War Is Gray (Ra'wati's Tale 1)
by HarmonyM
Summary: Ra'wati wants to believe good and evil are as easy to distinguish as black and white, but after being orphaned by bandits and finding herself in the middle of a civil war, she realizes nothing in life is that simple. She wants to believe she's good but comes to realize her soul is as gray as the war. Rated T for violence and adult themes.
1. Bandit Attack

**I: Bandit Attack**

I followed my parents as we departed from our temporary camp outside the gates of the latest city our caravan had stopped at. Just like every other city we had visited in Skyrim, we had stayed outside the gates. The Nords never let us inside the city gates.

"It's not fair," I growled. "Why do they never let us inside? They seem to think we all deal in skooma and moon sugar."

My mother put her arm around my shoulders. "They know some of us do, and that's all the evidence they need. There's nothing you can do about it."

"But how can they think we're all bad? Don't they know about Nerevarine Ma'hini?"

My mother sighed. "If the world was just, we would be treated the same as the men and mer, but the world is not like that. Someday it may be. Until now, all you can do is show everyone you deal with that you are an honest Khajiit, and hope they pass the knowledge on. Maybe your grandchildren will be allowed into the cities."

"Maybe they treat us like this because we put up with it. What if we refused to take it? What if we all insisted on being allowed inside the city gates?"

"They might send the guards to attack us."

I shook my head. "I'm not going to let them treat me like that when I have my own caravan. They're going to treat me like any Nord or Redguard or Altmer, because I won't settle for anything else."

"Ra'wati, please don't get yourself killed over this. They let us trade with their cities. They don't keep us as slaves. We have it better than Grandmother Ma'hini did."

"Yes, mother," I grumbled, but inside I remained defiant. I was descended from one of the greatest heroes Tamriel had seen in centuries. So what if I didn't have a prophecy to fulfill? The people of Skyrim were going to respect me one day.

I remained lost in thought for the rest of the day, as my parents and the rest of our caravan traveled along the road to the next city on our route. It was a two-day journey, so we set up camp a short distance off the main road as the sun was beginning to set. After we had eaten, we sat around the fire as my father told us a story about the Nerevarine. I usually loved to listen to stories about my distant grandmother and imagine what her life must have been like, but tonight I was feeling too distracted to follow along.

I went to my tent early, but I was unable to sleep. I was feeling too restless. I laid there for several hours before I finally got up and made my way to the campfire, where my father was sitting watch.

"Do you want me to take the next watch?" I asked. "I can't sleep."

"Is something bothering you, child?" he asked. "I could tell you've been upset all day."

I sighed and looked away. "I'm just unhappy with my life right now, with the way other people treat us… I don't think I want to spend the rest of my life this way."

"What exactly do you want?" he asked gently. "Do you want to own a farm? That would not be a very interesting life. You know there is little else we can do."

"I… I don't know what I want to do." I pulled my dagger out of its sheath and focused on it as I spoke. "I think I want to learn how to use a sword."

"A sword?" he asked, sounding concerned.

I looked up at him. "I don't like hiding behind others when I'm scared. I want to be able to take care of myself." And if I became a warrior, people would have to respect me, I thought.

"But… Your eye…" he began.

My hand reflexively went to the left side of my face, where my pupil was completely white. I had never been able to see anything out of it, not even light. "Father, you know very well that my eye doesn't interfere with anything. You know I can use a bow as well as anyone else here. A sword should be no different."

He opened his mouth to respond, but his words were replaced by a startled bark of pain. He fell forward, and I saw an arrow protruding from his back.

"Father?!" I gasped. I jumped to my feet, looking out toward the darkened woods for the source of the arrow, when a second arrow struck me in the stomach.

"No, you idiot! Don't kill the girl!" I heard someone scream from the woods as I crumpled to the ground, clutching my stomach. The world suddenly seemed distant, almost dream-like. My ears started ringing and intense nausea swept over me.

My father started to crawl over to me. Two more arrows struck him in the sides, and he collapsed on his stomach.

The other Khajiit had heard us and came running to face our attackers. My mother was in the lead. I saw at least five arrows strike her torso, and she fell. Another Khajiit beside her suffered a similar fate. Then a group of Nord bandits emerged from the woods with their weapons drawn, and the battle began.

"Ra'wati," I heard my father croak through the ringing in my ears. I looked away from the battle and over at him. He gestured weakly to my stomach and breathed, "Pull the arrow out and come here."

I could barely hear anything, and my vision was so fuzzy now. It was so hard to think, to focus, but I gripped the arrow shaft and started to pull. As my pain spiked, so did my sudden nausea. The world seemed to go out of focus, as if I were looking at everything from underwater. I thought my father was still talking, but the ringing in my ears had increased until I could hear nothing else.

I tugged on the arrow as hard as I could, pulling it free. My vision clouded over and the nausea became too much to bear. I began vomiting. My whole world became nothing but pain. I could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing but the pain.

And then the pain suddenly subsided, and I became aware of a warm, pleasant sensation that seemed to cover my entire body. It was the sensation of magical healing.

As the pain receded, I realized my father had his hand on my wrist. I looked over at him. He seemed barely able to focus on me anymore. The arrows were still protruding from his body.

"Father, please, you have to heal yourself!" I panted. "I don't know how to do it!"

He shook his head almost imperceptibly. "I only had strength for one of us," he breathed, almost too softly for me to hear.

And then his body went limp and the healing sensation stopped.

"FATHER!" I screamed, but I knew he could not hear me anymore.

Through my shock, I realized I could still hear the sounds of fighting. I pushed myself up and turned to see one lone Khajiit fighting with three bandits. As I watched, the Khajiit impaled one of the bandits, then was cut down from behind by the other two.

With their final opponent dead, the two remaining bandits turned to face me.

"Well, well, looks like someone knew a healing spell," one of the bandits said in a tone that chilled me. "I was afraid we'd have to rush this. Looks like we'll get to take our time, after all." He shifted his battleaxe to his right hand and headed in my direction.

The other bandit fell to his knees. "You go first. I need a moment to recover."

As I pulled myself up onto my hands and knees, I felt something on the ground pressing into one of my knees. It was the hilt of my dagger. I quickly grabbed the dagger and wrapped my tail around me, hiding my hands from view.

I looked up at the approaching bandit, flattening my ears submissively, trying to make myself look weak and desperate. "Please, I'll do whatever you tell me to," I said, my voice quivering. "There's no need to hurt me."

He laughed vilely. "The pain's half the fun."

I would only have one chance at this. I held still, doing my best to look helpless, weighing my options as he approached. He was wearing a ringmail cuirass and greaves. I couldn't go for his torso with my flimsy dagger, not unless I waited for him to take the armor off…

The bandit stopped in front of me, looking down at me triumphantly. He grabbed my hair in his left hand and jerked my head back to get a better look at my face. "I don't usually go for women with so much body hair, but you're pretty enough, I suppose," he laughed. He jerked my hair again. "Get up."

He loosened his grip on my hair and I shifted my weight onto my feet, keeping my hands low and covered by my tail. "Where are we going?"

"Your people picked a very bad spot to make camp. You could throw a stone and hit the entrance to our cave from here…"

Now or never. I leaped up, swinging my right hand as hard as I could. My dagger plunged up to the hilt where his neck and jaw met, breaking when it struck the base of his skull.

"You're right," I snarled as he fell writhing to the ground, trying desperately to breathe through his severed windpipe. "That was fun. Giving you a painless death would not have been as satisfying." I picked up his battleaxe and turned to face the other bandit.

The other bandit was still slumped on the ground. "Mercy!" he cried as I approached him.

"What were you planning to do when I begged you for mercy?" I demanded.

He closed his eyes and bowed his head, accepting his fate.

"This is kinder than you deserve," I said as I raised the axe above my head.

Once it was over, I stumbled around the camp, checking for any survivors, but I was the only one. My parents and the other members of our caravan were dead. I was all alone.

* * *

**SOUNDTRACK:** "S.C.A.V.A." by Hollywood Undead, "Breathe Into Me" by Red, "Not Gonna Die" by Skillet, "Time of Dying" by Three Days Grace, "The End Has Come" by Ben Moody (from the Punisher soundtrack), "The Collapse" by Adelitas Way, "Lights Out" and "Breath" by Breaking Benjamin, "Old Friend" and "Warrior" by Disturbed, "The World Belongs To Me" by My Darkest Days (also Ra'Wati's theme song)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: This is a prequel to my other story, The Dark Brotherhood's Mercy. I started that story to alleviate the crippling cognitive dissonance I suffered after finding out about the torture chamber in the Dawnstar Sanctuary. (Before I found out about it, I played Skyrim almost every day for over a month and could barely focus on anything else. After I found out, I suddenly had absolutely no desire to play anymore. Once I came up with the story idea four days later, my desire to play returned.) I wanted to include a flashback chapter where Ra'wati tells someone about rescuing Etienne Rarnis from the Thalmor (saving him made me feel better than anything else I've ever done in a video game), but planning it made me realize how little I had fleshed her character out, and giving myself a few days to work on her backstory made me realize I wanted to write it. It also changed some things I had planned for Dark Brotherhood's Mercy. (For example, she was originally on the fence between the Empire and the Stormcloaks, but her backstory made it obvious to me which side she ends up on. Her decision was supposed to be a pivotal point in the sequel, but it had to be moved to this story.) So with that in mind, my other story will be on hiatus until this one is finished.

At the end of every chapter I'll include a list of songs I think best fit the events of the chapter, arranged in chronological order to the best of my ability.

Ra'wati's name is a Khajiit-ized version of Rewati, the first white tiger born in the US. The Nerevarine's name has been changed to Ma'hini, after Rewati's mother Mohini. All descriptions of what Ra'wati experiences while blacking out and waking up again are drawn from my own experience with blacking out from pain, specifically "vasovagal near-syncope" symptoms.

Finally, I am also blind in the left eye (though mine is a result of cancer, not a cataract). Ra'wati's vision is a much more acute version of my own. And I tend to ramble, obviously.


	2. Dragon Attack

**II: Dragon Attack**

After a few days of numb shock and despair, I had recovered enough to collect everything of value off the bodies and from our trade goods. I kept some weapons, armor and objects of sentimental value and sold the rest. I was able to live off the money until I had recovered from the shock of everything that had happened. After that, I retreated into the woods and lived off the land, never staying in one spot for more than a week at a time. I would find a small village once a month to sell the deer hides, alchemy ingredients and other valuable things I came across, but that was the only contact I had with others.

And that was how my life went for a full two years after my parents were murdered.

The day that changed everything began just like so many others. I rose with the sun, noted that I was almost out of venison, and set off with my bow and arrow to hunt elk.

I climbed a nearby mountain to survey the surrounding forest. From here, I could see that a road cut through the forest off in the distance. Further on, the forest ended at some kind of settlement. I was making a mental note not to go in that direction when I saw several stags near the base of the mountain, heading in that direction.

I cursed them silently, but set out in pursuit anyway. If I remained undetected, I should be able to take one down before they got near that settlement.

Two years of feeding myself through hunting had left me with decent sneaking skills. I quickly caught up to the deer, remaining undetected. They had stopped to browse a patch of mountain flowers.

I silently drew my bow and looked them over. There was one large stag with enormous antlers along with three young harts with small antlers, probably their first set.

The harts would require less chewing, but the big stag's antlers were more valuable. They were in decently high demand by alchemists. I could probably trade them for a cheese wheel or two. It had been two months since I had eaten cheese.

My mind made up, I took aim at the large stag. He was still contentedly chewing a mouthful of blue flowers. Maybe if I aimed properly, I could take him down with one shot, and those flowers would be his last memory, rather than the fear of being pursued while in great pain…

There was a sudden commotion off in the distance, making the elk bolt. Men started shouting, horses started screaming in pain, and I could hear metal weapons clashing.

To my horror, I realized the fighting was heading my way rapidly. I turned and ran in the opposite direction. There had to be a cave around here somewhere I could hide in.

Suddenly a wall of armed men appeared out of the forest in front of me. They wore the armor of Imperial soldiers. Several bows were drawn and aimed at me.

"Drop your weapon, Stormcloak!" one of the men barked.

I dropped my bow and raised my hands above my head. "I don't know what's going on here, but I have nothing to do with it," I insisted. "I was just hunting for food!"

Something behind me drew their attention a few seconds before I heard multiple voices behind me shout, "_Victory or Sovngarde!_" I spun around to see a wall of soldiers charging at us with weapons drawn. They wore armor noticeably different from the Imperial soldiers.

_Oh, Talos, I'm about to die, _I thought as the two sides charged to meet each other with me standing unarmed in the middle…

Next thing I knew, I seemed to be sitting down somewhere with my hands bound in front of me. I had a pounding headache, the world was swimming before my eyes and the roaring had returned to my ears, drowning everything out. As reality slowly came into focus, I determined I was seated in the back of a cart, being transported along a bumpy road. There were several others in the cart with me, and several other carts following us, each loaded with bound prisoners. They seemed to be talking, but it took a moment for the roaring in my ears to recede enough to understand them.

Last time I had passed out, I had come awake almost clear-headed. But that time I had been healed, while I had apparently been left on my own now.

One of the prisoners stood out because he had been gagged. As little bits and pieces of the conversation made their way through the ringing in my ears, I determined his name was Ulfric Stormcloak. I wanted to know who he was and why he alone had been gagged, but nothing I picked up from the conversation answered those questions. Just as my hearing finally cleared enough to allow me to hear full sentences again, the cart driver ordered everyone to be silent. So I learned nothing in the last few minutes before we neared the stone walls of a small village.

The townsfolk came out to stare at us. As they pointed and gossiped, I overheard two words that chilled me to the bone: _Headsman _and _execution._

It appeared I was going to die that day, after all.

The carts came to a stop in the village square. An Imperial soldier stepped forward, holding a piece of parchment. "When I call your names, you will step forward," he announced.

I watched as the soldiers stepped out of the carts as their names were called and were directed to proceed to the center of the square, where a man holding a large battleaxe stood beside a chopping block.

"Lokir of Rorikstead," the soldier called.

"I'm not a Stormcloak!" the last man remaining in the cart with me cried. "I'm just a common thief who picked a terrible spot to try to cross the border into Cyrodiill!" He was dressed in rags like me, not armor like the rest of the Nords.

"Step forward," the soldier barked.

"I'm not a Stormcloak! I'm a loyal citizen of the Empire!" he called desperately.

"I'm not going to say it again," the soldier growled.

Lokir stepped out of the cart, but instead of joining the line of Stormcloak soldiers, he bolted in the opposite direction. "No! This isn't fair! You can't do this to me!"

"_Archers_!" a commanding female voice shouted, and seconds later Lokir collapsed to the ground with multiple arrows in his back. He gave a strangled cry and then fell silent.

There were no further attempts to escape. The last few men were called, and then the soldier holding the parchment looked up at me, then back at the parchment in confusion. "Legate Rikke, this one's name isn't on the list," he called.

"She was with the Stormcloaks," the woman who had commanded the archers said. "That's incriminating enough for me."

He sighed and ordered, "Step forward and state your name and province."

I slowly climbed out of the cart. My head started swimming again once I stood up and I staggered. One of the Imperial soldiers came forward and helped me down.

"My name is Ra'wati," I said shakily as I swayed slightly on my feet before him. "I have no hometown. I am the daughter of nomadic caravaners who were killed by bandits two years ago. I have been living off the land ever since. I was hunting for food when I was captured."

"Legate Rikke?" the soldier with the parchment asked.

Legate Rikke gave me a scornful look. "She's wearing a Talos amulet."

I looked down at my necklace in confusion. "Is there a law against wearing my dead mother's jewelry?" I asked.

Legate Rikke gave a derisive snort. "She's obviously a Stormcloak spy. She will be executed with the others."

I got the feeling I had failed some test. I bowed my head and obediently went to stand with the other prisoners. I could tell I would get no support here. I would be executed for a crime I did not even understand.

Off in the distance, I heard a strange noise, like an animal roaring, but it was like nothing I had ever heard before. I wondered if I was still hearing things, but then I noticed many of the people around me were looking around in confusion and asking their neighbors if they had heard that sound.

I concentrated, listening for that sound again. I was only dimly aware of the man wearing the gag, Ulfric Stormcloak, as he was called forward and read charges of murdering the high king.

My attention shifted back to the people around me as Ulfric was escorted to the chopping block. The soldiers forced him down on his knees, then shoved his torso down, placing his neck above the chopping block.

The headsman raised his axe above his head. I lost my nerve and looked away just in time to see the arrival of the creature that had made that strange roar.

It was an enormous black dragon, larger than a house. It came gliding out of the sky and landed on top of the nearest stone guard tower, right beside the headsman.

_This can't be happening, _I thought. _Dragons are extinct! Am I still dreaming?_

The dragon leaned forward, stretching its serpentine neck down in our direction, opened its mouth and breathed fire over the assembled crown.

The pain was too real to be part of a dream.

Those who had evaded the fire attack fled in all directions. Those of us who had been struck writhed on the ground briefly until the flames went out.

As I lay on the ground, cursing the pain uncontrollably, I noticed that Ulfric Stormcloak had not been beheaded. He was climbing to his feet along with many of the prisoners.

The pain soon receded, all but the burning sensation on my wrists. I started to blow it out, then realized the ropes binding my wrists were burning. I writhed on the ground, begging the Nine to make it stop, reminding myself I could find a healer if I survived, but I was unlikely to survive if my bonds stayed on. The rope binding my wrists finally snapped.

I pushed myself to my feet and took off running just as the dragon began breathing fire for the second time, this time aimed at several buildings beside it. I heard tremendous crashing behind me, but I didn't turn around to look. I headed for the nearest open door.

I dove through the entrance to what appeared to be another guard tower. There were several other prisoners inside, their hands still bound.

"A dragon," one of the prisoners kept saying softly. He appeared to be in shock.

Another prisoner was more level-headed. "How did you cut your bonds?" he asked me.

"They caught on fire," I explained, showing him my burned wrists. I noticed a chest against the wall. "They should have blades around here somewhere…"

Inside the chest I found an iron dagger, a few health and magicka potions and one stamina potion. After downing a health potion and watching my burns vanish, I quickly cut the other prisoners free, then found an old flour sack to put my new gear in. "Any idea on how we can get out of here?" I asked the room in general.

The level-headed prisoner said, "I used to be stationed here before I joined the Stormcloaks. I heard there were underground tunnels everywhere. There should be one accessible through the barracks. It's a stone's throw from here."

I frowned. "I suppose our alternatives are stay here and get roasted alive, or flee above ground and risk that creature noticing us."

"I'm afraid so… Ra'wati, was it? I'm Ralof." He peered out the doorway of the tower. "Looks like that beast is distracted. Everybody ready? Follow me!"

He darted out the doorway and ran across the open ground like a terrified deer. The other prisoners and I followed.

The heat was overpowering outside. Every building around the town square seemed to be on fire. I could hear the dragon roaring, people screaming in pain and terror, fire crackling, and the crashing of houses collapsing off in the distance, but I didn't stop to look. There was nothing I could do.

Halfway to our destination, the body of the prisoner shot down by archers lay facedown in the dirt. I glanced at it as I passed, cursing the fool for trying to run. He could still be alive, if he had done as the soldiers ordered.

I looked at him just in time to see him try to raise his head.

_I don't know him. I don't owe him anything, _I thought, but I still darted across open ground to reach him. I heaved him up across my shoulders just as the dragon noticed me. It breathed fire down at me and I fled, feeling the heat from the fire the whole time as it struck the ground just behind me. Ralof was standing in the doorway, desperately waving me on. I dove through the entrance and he slammed the heavy doors behind me right before the flames struck us. I followed him down the stairs to the basement. The other prisoners were waiting for us inside. They had found several storage crates of weapons and armor and were hastily dividing it up.

"You idiot!" Ralof shouted as he helped me lower Lokir to the ground. "That dragon almost killed you!"

"Shut up and tell me you know Healing Hands," I snarled as I cut Lokir's bonds.

"We all do," one of the others said. "All recruits are required to know it."

"I wish I knew it," I sighed.

I could only pull out the arrows and wait as everyone else put their hands on Lokir's back to heal the damage. Slowly he picked his head up and looked around blearily, then pushed himself up to a sitting position as the soldiers finished the healing and backed away.

"I… I don't know which of you to thank first," Lokir said weakly. "Maybe you should all line up…"

"There's no time for that now," Ralof interrupted. "Let's get to safety first. Did any of you see where Jarl Ulfric went?"

Everyone else shook their heads. "We should split up and look for him," one suggested.

"We should be able to get to other parts of the city through the tunnels," Ralof said. "That will be safer than going back out in the open."

I knelt beside Lokir and took him by one arm. "Can you stand?" I asked.

"I… I think so," he said shakily. Ralof took his other arm and we pulled him up to his feet. He wobbled briefly, then got his footing.

"Here," one of the others said, tossing me two sets of Imperial light armor and two Imperial swords from a nearly crate. "I don't know if either of you know how to fight, but this might still keep you alive."

I quickly donned the Imperial cuirass, helmet, bracers and boots. Lokir was still unsteady on his feet, but he was able to don his armor without assistance.

"I don't have any real experience with healing spells. Shouldn't you be recovered by now?" I asked Lokir.

"Mortal wounds have lingering effects on your stamina regeneration. I'll be back to normal if I live to sleep it off."

I rummaged in my sack and pulled out a green potion. "Here, maybe this will hold you for a little while."

Once Lokir drank the potion, he seemed a little steadier. We followed Ralof through a trapdoor down another flight of stairs. Ralof took a torch out of a wall sconce and led us deeper into the cave.

Far ahead, we heard the sound of a fight suddenly break out. The Stormcloaks charged ahead, while Lokir and I hung back apprehensively.

"What's wrong? Never been in a real battle?" Lokir asked.

I shook my head. "I've killed two bandits, but I caught one of them off guard, and the other was badly injured. They had just killed my parents and were about to rape me," I added defensively.

"If we make it out of here… maybe I can give you some lessons in how to fight with a blade. It's about all I can do to repay you."

I nodded. "I have a feeling I won't be going back to live in the woods after we get out of here. I need to learn how to fight. Anything you could teach me would be helpful."

The fighting up ahead ceased right before we arrived. We came upon a torture chamber. There was a dead man in a cage and a large amount of old blood splattered on the floor, but otherwise no sign I could see of recent use. The torturer and his assistant were lying on the floor, gagging on their own blood as they gasped out their last breaths. A few Imperial soldiers were also lying dead on the floor. But Ralof and his companions had survived the battle, along with several other Stormcloaks who had started it.

I looked down at the torturer and his assistant, then turned away. Unlike Lokir, I knew these two had devoted their lives to causing misery and despair. They deserved no help, not even to end their suffering.

Ralof and the others were discussing their search for Ulfric. There were numerous passageways leading off from this room, so they decided to split up from here.

Ralof came back over to us. "The others are going to look for Ulfric. I'll help you two find the way out."

"Don't you want to search for your Jarl?" Lokir asked.

"Yes, but some of us need to try to escape and warn the other Jarls. I'll see you two to safety, then come back to look for Jarl Ulfric." He looked around the room. "You two don't seem to have many supplies. There are some healing potions and other things you might need in this room."

"We'll need something to carry them in," Lokir pointed out.

Ralof knelt beside one of the Imperial soldier corpses and picked up the dead man's knapsack. He tossed it to me. "These are enchanted to hold much more than you ought to be able to fit in them."

I caught the bag and turned it over curiously. "How much more?"

He shrugged. "A lot. But it doesn't make your gear any lighter, so you'll have to be selective on what you bring along." He took another from a different soldier and tossed it to Lokir.

I hurried around the room and searched the barrels and crates. I found half a dozen health and magicka potions, a few lockpicks and a small amount of gold, along with potatoes, cabbages, apples and carrots. Meanwhile Lokir set about removing the gear from the dead bodies and putting it in his pack.

Once we had cleared out the room, we followed Ralof down another tunnel leading off the room. It descended from the barracks into a natural cave beneath. We passed a few empty prison cells carved out of the cave wall, which were the last signs of human use of the caves other than candles and torches placed at intervals along the walls. After that, the walls and floor of the cave became covered with various types of fungus and we could hear animals scuttling around.

Ralof looked around at the tunnel walls lit by goat-horn sconces. "This should be one of the tunnels leading outside. They were planning on clearing these out last time I was here. Looks like they never got around to it."

"That means we won't run into any Imperials, right?" I asked hopefully.

"Not likely, but you might run into some frostbite spiders or skeevers."

I gritted my teeth. "I _hate _frostbite spiders…"

Far above us, a thunderous crashing began. The ground beneath us started shaking and the crashing grew louder and closer. The roof of the cave behind us suddenly collapsed. We were thrown off our feet, fortunately landing in a mound of soft fungus on the cave floor.

I scrambled to my feet and turned to assess the situation. The tunnel we had come down was completely blocked by fallen rocks, but the path we had been about to take was still clear.

I took Lokir by the wrist and helped him to his feet. He looked dizzy, but didn't appear to have taken any damage from the fall.

Ralof pushed himself up more slowly and looked at the mass of fallen rocks. He wearily picked up the torch from where it had landed on a bare patch of the cave floor. "Looks like I'll be coming with you two after all," he sighed.

* * *

**SOUNDTRACK**: "Cold" by Five Finger Death Punch, "I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin, "Reborn" by Stone Sour, "Into the Fire" by Sabaton, "I'm Alive" by Shinedown (from the _Avengers _soundtrack), "The Change" by Garth Brooks, "Not Gonna Die" by Skillet, "Not Gonna Get Us" by T.A.T.U.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Lokir was supposed to die in the first cut scene. I decided to spare him and make him a main character of Ra'wati's story because I'm just that kind of person. (Not a love interest, though.)

For the purpose of writer feels, I have decided mortal wounds destroy the victim's ability to regenerate stamina until they have had a full night's rest. (Basically Ra'wati may still have to carry people to safety even after she has healed them. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.)

I've never seen the issue of how you carry so much gear addressed (never bothered to read the manuals, though), so I've decided they have knapsacks with TARDIS bigger-on-the-inside enchantments.

While I will try to keep the important aspects of the various labyrinths/dungeons, they will be shortened and modified. I'm not very good at describing scenery and having to do so bores me. I'll do my best, but I would rather focus on what the characters are doing.


	3. Draugr

**III: Draugr**

"I had forgotten how much I hate caves," Lokir sighed as we emerged into glorious daylight at the other end of the cave. It had been a long walk filled with spiders and skeevers, but we had all made it in one piece.

"They're not so bad if you can se in the dark," I said lightly. I turned to Ralof. "So, which way to the nearest village?"

"My hometown of Riverwood should be just up the road north of here. My sister Gerdur runs the lumber mill. I'll take you there."

"I hope it's not too far," Lokir grumbled. "I'm about ready to collapse."

"Don't worry, we'll be there within the hour."

I threw one of Lokir's arms around my shoulder. "I'm all out of stamina potions. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner you can rest."

Ralof walked in front, keeping his hands free in case we were ambushed. Lokir and I followed slowly. After a thankfully short walk, I saw small houses on either side of the road ahead.

"Ralof!" I heard a woman call. A Nord woman came running down the path. Ralof ran to meet her and they embraced.

From their excited chattering, I gathered that she was his sister Gerdur. After Ralof introduced us, Lokir and I wearily followed them to the house Gerdur shared with her husband Hod.

* * *

A faint rustling woke me. I picked my head up reluctantly, sensing it was still before dawn. Lokir was slowly rising from his bed on the other side of the room.

After Gerdur and Hod had taken us in and let us share their supper of apple-and-cabbage stew and goat cheese, they had rented a room at the inn for us. We insisted we would be fine sleeping on the floor, but they had insisted right back that we had helped save Ralof's life, so it was the least they could do to repay us.

"Something wrong?" I whispered.

He shook his head and whispered back, "I thought I heard voices outside."

"So, what's the plan for today?" I asked as I laid my head back down. With the stress of yesterday and Lokir's injuries, we both hadn't had the energy to do anything more than eat supper with Ralof's aunt and uncle before retiring for the night. The straw mattress was so much softer than the piles of deer skin on stone cave floors that I was used to. "Are you coming with me to Whiterun?"

"You can hardly go there yourself right now," he pointed out. "They don't let Khajiit inside the city walls. You'll stand a better chance of getting past the guards with someone beside you. And you could use some training with your sword." He pushed himself up with a grunt. "And speaking of which, we're both awake and we can't leave until we unload our extra gear at the shop, so we might as well get started on your training."

"So you're fully recovered now?"

"Yeah, good as new."

I growled softly, but I wearily rose, collected my gear and followed him outside. It was still dark outside, though the sun was just beginning to lighten the horizon.

He lit the goat-horn sconces on the back of the inn and turned to face me. Only then, with the only light source shining in my face, did he really notice my eyes. "Whoa, what happened to your eye?" he asked, then winced as if realizing that wasn't the most tactful way to ask.

I shrugged, absently rubbing the left side of my face. "I was born like this. I've never been able to see out of it."

"Are you sure this is a good idea…?" he began.

"Yes!" I snarled. "I can see just fine without it!"

"Oh," he began uncertainly, then regained his composure and grinned, shifting into a battle stance. "Let's see you prove that."

* * *

By the time the sun had risen along with the rest of the little village, I was ready to go back to sleep. My arms, legs and back ached from the rigorous exercise Lokir had put me through. But at least I felt a little more confident in my ability to defend myself with a sword.

We finally broke off our training session when we heard Gerdur calling us to breakfast. I sheathed my sword and turned away from Lokir.

"Hold on," he called to me. I suddenly felt his hands on my shoulders, and before I could ask what he was doing, I felt the magic of Healing Hands coursing through me, healing my strained muscles.

"Thank you," I sighed. "I don't suppose there's any way you can teach me that?"

He sighed sadly. "I'm afraid not. You'll have to find a spell book."

"Do you think the general goods store here would have one?"

"Not likely. Nords frown on the use of magic. They'll learn healing spells, but they don't usually stock spell books. You might not find one until we get to Whiterun."

We returned to Gerdur and Hod's house, where they had cabbage soup, bread and goat cheese wedges laid out on the table. Ralof was still there. We sat down to eat and discuss our plans for the day.

"Are you coming with us to Whiterun?" I asked Ralof.

He shook his head. "Jarl Balgruff hasn't officially declared a side, but he's not very sympathetic to the Stormcloaks. I doubt he'd let me leave the city. He'd probably throw me in the dungeon and call the Thalmor on me."

I frowned. "Who are they?"

"You don't know who the Thalmor are?" Gerdur asked incredulously.

"No, I… I've spent most of my life in the wilds of Cyrodiil, and never paid attention to gossip" I admitted. "I really don't even know what a Stormcloak is or why the Imperials are after them."

They all exchanged glances, then Ralof cleared his throat and said, "Well, first you'll have to understand what the Thalmor are. You've heard of Altmer, I'm sure?"

I nodded. _High elves._

"They went to war with the Empire years ago," Ralof continued. "Fought each other to a standstill, I'm told, though the Altmer insist they were about to win. But they agreed to a peace treaty with the Empire. This treaty is called the White Gold Concordat, and the Altmer call their government the Aldmeri Dominion. Part of the treaty required the outlawing of Talos worship."

I frowned. "What do the Altmer have against the worship of Talos?"

"_Talos _was the original name of the Nord emperor Tiber Septim, the one who founded the Empire," Gerdur said. "Before then, there were eight divines. Legend says Tiber Septim was raised into the heavens to become the ninth divine after his death. The Aldmeri Dominion couldn't stand the thought of a man becoming a god over the elves. They think the Altmer are the noblest of all races."

"The Thalmor are an organization of Altmer devoted to stamping out Talos worship," Hod said. "They abduct and torture those they suspect of worshiping Talos. They have the right to execute them without question. And the Imperials can do nothing about it."

"Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak objects to this," Ralof continued. "He thinks an Empire that can't protect its own people is no Empire at all. He wants to drive them all out – the Empire, the Aldmeri, and all others, and leave Skyrim to the true Nords."

"_All_ outsiders?" I asked warily.

"Ah… Well…" Ralof faltered, as if just remembering there was a non-Nord in the room.

"I'm sure he'll allow all those who support him to stay, not just the Nords," Hod said. "He let Dunmer fleeing the last eruption of Red Mountain settle in Windhelm."

"You could come to Windhelm and ask him yourself," Ralof said.

I shrugged. "Maybe I will. But first I need to go to Whiterun and warn them about the dragon."

"While you're there, could you ask Jarl Balgruuf to send some guards down here?" Gerdur asked. "We'd be defenseless if a dragon attacked us now.

I nodded.

"What about you?" Hod asked Lokir, who had been listening in silence. "Did the dragon bite out your tongue?"

"I… I don't know, the Empire was doing just fine before the Stormcloaks came along and ruined everything…" he trailed off.

Ralof snorted. "You still believe the Empire is just and the Stormcloaks are evil, after your precious Empire almost executed you for nothing and you were rescued by the Stormcloaks?"

Lokir looked away. "I don't know anymore. I need some time to think about this."

Ralof nodded. "I'll be headed to Windhelm. That's where Ulfric will have fled to. If you ever get there, I'll put in a good word for you."

"So," I said slowly, "why can't Ulfric make his case to the other jarls? Surely they don't approve of forsaking Talos and allowing their people to be tortured to death by outsiders?"

"Well, he did try," Ralof said, starting to look uncomfortable. "He made his case before High King Torygg…"

"And?" I prompted.

"When the king refused to see reason, Ulfric accused him of being a traitor to his people and killed him in honorable single combat," Hod said proudly.

"…Oh. No wonder the Empire is after him."

Hod snorted. "A king who cannot protect his own people is no king at all, if you ask me."

I fell silent as we finished the meal, while the Nords continued discussing things I knew nothing about. I suddenly realized just how alone I was. Maybe once I warned Whiterun, I could head back to Cyrodiil or Elsweyr. I could prey on bandit camps and sell their gear, and maybe I'd have enough to start my own caravan one day… Or buy my own shop…

Gerdur and Hod said we could help ourselves to any supplies they had, so I collected a few cheese wheels and stuffed them in my knapsack before Lokir and I headed off to the general goods store.

"I always thought cheese wheels were a bit heavy," Lokir commented. "You might do better selling them and buying healing potions instead."

I shook my head. "I like cheese."

We heard raised voices coming from the store. I looked at Lokir uncertainly, but he just shrugged and headed inside, so I followed him.

"I said no, and that's final!" a man shouted as the door opened. Inside, a man and a woman - the shop's owner, Lucan, and his sister Camilla – were glaring at each other. It looked like we had interrupted an argument, and they had quieted down so as not to scare the customers off.

"Is there a problem?" Lokir asked casually.

"No," Lucan snapped before his sister could say anything. She just glared at him.

Lokir shrugged. "We've got some weapons and armor to sell. What kind of swords do you have?"

The shopkeepers relaxed as we set about selling our unnecessary gear. We exchanged it for a decent amount of gold, then turned our attention to what they had for sale. Lokir picked up an iron greatsword and asked, "How much for this?"

"I can't let it go for less than 135 septims," the shopkeeper said.

Lokir looked at his meager pile of gold, mentally calculated how much selling his iron longsword would add to it, then shook his head sadly. "Maybe next time."

"Do you have any experience clearing out old barrows?" Camilla asked.

"A little," Lokir said warily. "What do you have in mind?"

"Nothing," Lucan snapped.

"Well, are you going to get it back yourself?" Camilla snarled at him.

"Did you lose something?" I asked quickly, hoping to stop them from arguing.

"Had it stolen, more like," Lucan grumbled. He sighed. "I had a valuable artifact, a dragon claw made of gold. Some thieves snuck in here and stole it last week. I heard they're holed up in an old barrow up the mountain." He gave his sister a scathing glance. "My sister thought she'd sneak off while I was asleep and get it back, but neither of us have any experience fighting."

Lokir and I glanced at each other. Maybe that was what woke him up this morning. "And if we brought it back?" Lokir asked.

"I'll give you all the gold I made off my last shipment. 300 septims," the shopkeeper said.

"Where exactly do you think these bandits went?"

"Bleak Falls Barrow," Camilla said. "It's an ancient Nord burial tomb up the mountain. I can show you the way."

Lokir turned to me. "Well, Ra'Wati, what do you think? Should we make a detour and find their artifact?"

"Don't we need to hurry to Whiterun?" I asked.

Lokir shrugged. "We could, but the road there can be dangerous. Bandits, giants, mammoths, sabretooth cats… It might be a good idea to buy better weapons and armor first."

I thought about it. "What kind of enemies would we find in the barrow?"

Lucan shrugged. "Probably just the bandits. If they're still alive, they'll have cleared it out for you. Otherwise, just a few draugr. Nothing really dangerous."

"What are draugr?"

"Old undead Nord warriors," Camilla said. "Legend says they were put in the tombs as servants of the dragon priests or guardians of treasures. They had a spell put on them to make them immortal, but it didn't exactly stop their aging, They're still alive, but they're like dried-up zombies. Or so I heard." She shrugged. "They won't be any tougher than regular bandits."

I wanted to ask what a dragon priest was, but we had spent long enough talking already. I turned back to Lokir. "Okay, let's go see what's inside the barrow. I could use the experience."

"That's the spirit," he said, clapping me on the shoulder. He turned to the shopkeeper's sister. "Lead on, milady."

* * *

"How are you holding up?" Lokir asked as we took a break within sight of our goal.

"A little winded, that's all," I answered. It had been a long walk up the mountain, along numerous switchbacks and overly steep trails. I wasn't used to climbing that much. "I can still put up a fight."

We looked ahead at the entrance to Bleak Falls Barrow. Half-buried under snow, a multi-tiered set of stairs protruded from the mountain, carved out of the rock, leading to an enormous stone building. The doorway stood inside a recessed arch in the front of the building. There were many odd stone arches in front of the building and beside the stairs, some toppled from age. It looked like an old temple of some sort. Fresh tracks in the snow showed it was still occupied.

"So you're sure you're up to this?" he asked.

I sighed but nodded. "Bandits killed my parents. This group might kill travelers too. But I don't enjoy the thought of killing."

"I know what you mean. But I know people who have cleared out a lot of bandit caves, and they say after you find a few of their torture chambers and stashes of dead bodies, you'll stop feeling bad about killing them."

"Until then, I'll just remember my parents. What about you? Are you sure you're fully recovered?"

"Absolutely."

I drew my sword. "I'm ready when you are."

I let Lokir lead the way as we entered the barrow. We found ourselves in an enormous chamber. I had expected it to be dark, but part of the roof had collapsed, allowing sunlight into the room. Rather than a man-made structure, it appeared to be a natural cavern, with the temple facade built over the entrance. Someone had carved a pathway into one of the walls leading to a higher level.

"Who's there?" I heard a woman call from the top of the path. Three bandits appeared with weapons drawn.

Lokir ran to meet them, but I held back nervously. This was my first real battle. I found myself wondering if we might be able to talk our way out of this. We just wanted the golden claw back and we would be on our way. Surely that wasn't too high a price to pay for sparing their lives?

That train of thought ended when an arrow struck my abdomen. Unlike last time, I was wearing armor now, but it still punched a hole through the armor and drew blood.

For a second, memories of the terror of the first bandit attack washed over me, drowning out everything else, and then that was replaced by a rage of an intensity I had never experienced before. I saw my mother falling to the bandits' arrows, my father sacrificing himself to save me, the first bandit standing over me and leering…

Before I realized what was happening, I had charged the bandits, passing Lokir. I met the archer first. She tried to hold up her bow to block my sword, but in that intense, rage-fueled instant, I leaped into the air and brought my sword down, striking with more force than I thought I had. One blow was all it took. My sword went right through the bow and kept on going, right into the side of her neck.

As she collapsed to the cavern floor, I spun around to face the next bandit. He was armed with a sword and shield like me. I didn't give him a chance to prepare himself. I rushed forward and bashed into him with my shield. He blocked it partially with his own, but it still staggered him. He took a step back, dropping his guard to regain his balance, giving me an opening to his torso. I took it, lunging forward and impaling him.

I turned to Lokir, who was fighting the last bandit. Lokir had a wound on his arm and was staggering slightly. Without a second thought, I ran at them. As I neared the bandit, I twisted my body away from him at the waist, leaped into the air and spun the other way, swinging my sword at the bandit's neck, cutting his head clean off.

With no other targets, the rage disappeared, and I found myself staring numbly at the headless body at my feet. I looked up at Lokir and saw him pressed back against the cave wall, staring at me with fear in his eyes.

"Was that supposed to happen?" I asked weakly, lowering my sword. I looked down and realized the arrow was still in my stomach. "I had a flashback to my parents dying, and this rage just took over…" I trailed off as I pulled the arrow out.

Lokir laughed weakly. "I've never heard of a Khajiit berserker before." He gingerly put one hand on my arm so he could use Healing Hands.

"Don't worry, I knew who you were the entire time," I assured him. "I didn't really lose myself… But I liked it. I didn't want to kill them, but I liked it."

Lokir gave me a sympathetic look. "Maybe you were always meant to be a warrior."

I sighed. "I suppose if I have to dispatch bandits, it's better to enjoy the battle than be unable to kill."

He nodded and turned to the corpses. "Might as well see if they have anything of value on them before we head on."

I looked at the tunnel. "Won't any other bandits be headed this way now?"

He shrugged. "They never seem to notice. I wonder if they think it's the other bandits fighting over something. They're not usually bound together by friendship."

We slowly made our way through the barrow. It was larger than I had expected, but there were far fewer bandits than I expected. The tunnel started leading down, deeper into the mountain. Stairs were carved into the floor of the steeper tunnel sections.

We found three more bandits farther into the cave, but they were easily dispatched. I felt an odd excitement at the prospect of another fight, but the rage didn't come again.

"None of them have the claw either," I sighed after we had searched the bodies.

"Don't get frustrated so soon. We haven't explored all the tunnels yet."

"I know, but this place is huge. What if they're not carrying it? What if they hid it somewhere?"

He gave me a pained look, but before he could say anything, we heard a faint voice coming from up ahead.

"Is that someone calling for help?" I whispered.

"Sounds like it," Lokir said, raising his sword and heading for the tunnel in a crouch.

We rounded a bend in the tunnel and came to a room with a circular hole cut into the floor. A wooden spiral staircase had been built into the hole. We descended and saw spider webs coating the walls and floor up ahead. I had never seen so much web in one place before.

"Giant frostbite spider," Lokir whispered, then crept forward faster.

All of my hair stood on end as I heard the sound of something huge rustling the webs in the room at the end of the tunnel. Lokir continued advancing, but I put away my sword and drew my bow.

I thought I had seen large frostbite spiders. I had encountered ones as high as my waist. But the one that dropped from the roof of the cave must have been taller than me. I didn't rush in to make sure, though. I stayed in the tunnel and filled it with arrows while Lokir fought it with his sword. It went down quicker than I expected for a creature that size.

Lokir gave me a withering look as I emerged from the tunnel and said, "Maybe, since I'm the one who knows the healing spell, _you_ should be the one who leads the battle charge."

"I… uh… I don't like spiders," I said weakly, shuffling my feet uncomfortably until I remembered how much web was on the floor.

We were interrupted by someone calling, "Hey, could you cut me down from here?"

We turned to face the other side of the chamber, where a mass of web covered the other way out. A Dunmer was stuck in the web, wrapped up in a cocoon with only his head visible, hanging several feet above the floor.

We approached him, listening for any enemies hiding down the new tunnel, but everything was silent. "First, do you happen to know anything about a golden artifact in the shape of a dragon claw?" Lokir asked.

"We took it from a local shopkeeper. Rumor has it there's a great treasure hidden in the barrow, and the claw is the only way to reach it," the Dunmer said. "I came down here to check, but that spider caught me."

"Do you have the claw with you?" I asked.

The Dunmer looked at us for a moment, seeming to weigh his options, then said, "Yes. I'll give it to you if you cut me down."

"No, give us the claw first, and then we'll cut you down." Lokir said.

"How do I know you won't just kill me?"

"Because if we wanted to kill you, we'd do it now and take the claw off your body," I pointed out.

"Okay, okay, just cut me down first," he said. "I can't exactly reach it right now."

I stepped forward and quickly sliced through the webs restraining him. He landed on the floor heavily, but as soon as he got to his feet, he turned and dashed away down the unexplored tunnel.

"Hey, come back!" Lokir shouted. We both took off after the Dunmer down the tunnel as it sloped downwards. Thankfully the spider webs did not continue far down the tunnel.

Up ahead, I heard a strange growling sound, followed by the Dunmer screaming. We came to the end of the tunnel just in time to see him collapse dead on the cavern floor up ahead.

Three human figures stood over him. They had been Nords once, thousands of years ago. Now they barely looked human. They still had hair and beards, but their skin had turned to old parchment, and their ribs and muscles showed through where their skin had worn away. They gave off a horrible scent of musty, dry decay. Their weapons and armor were in much better condition. Their eyes glowed blue in the dim light.

"Draugr!" Lokir hissed as the three figures noticed us.

I crept forward cautiously. I had heard zombies were clumsy, but Camilla had said draugr were not reanimated corpses, just Nords who had aged oddly over several thousand years. They didn't look like they would be clumsy opponents.

The rage did not come as the draugr approached. I felt cold and frankly scared, having never faced an undead creature before. But I steeled myself and ran to meet the one in the lead.

He was armed with a two-handed greatsword. I held up my shield and approached him cautiously, but he showed no such caution. He raised his sword and swung it at me once. I jumped back out of the way, but he came forward and swung again. This time I caught the blow on my shield. It was heavier than I expected from such a desiccated foe and I found myself staggering back. He raised his sword for another blow, and I lunged forward, going beneath the blow and striking his leg as I rolled past. He let out a sound that was more animal than human and turned to face me. As he raised his weapon, I took a risk and darted forward to strike his unguarded left side. He recoiled, and I struck at his chest. He blocked my blow with his blade, but I quickly struck his left side again. He was too slow to block this one, or the next, and then he collapsed.

I turned my attention back to Lokir. The other two draugr had ganged up on him on the other side of the room. The draugr were clearly wounded, but Lokir seemed to be having a hard time fighting them both at once.

The draugr had their backs to me. I drew my bow and aimed at one of them. When the draugr held still briefly to block a blow with his shield, I let my arrow fly, striking the draugr in the back of the neck. He crumpled to the floor. With only one opponent now, Lokir soon dispatched the last one.

I walked over to the Dunmer and knelt beside him, feeling for a pulse, but he was dead. "You idiot," I growled, slamming my fists into his chest. "We were going to let you walk away. You should have given us the claw."

Lokir knelt on his other side and picked up the Dunmer's knapsack. He rummaged through it and pulled out a golden object shaped like a three-toed dragon's foot. "So this is the dragon claw," he said.

"Looks more like a _paw _to me," I said.

Lokir shrugged. "This is what we came for," he said slowly.

"So we go back now?" I asked hopefully.

Lokir frowned. "The Dunmer said something about his being the key to a great treasure."

"So you want to keep going?" I asked, frowning at the dead draugr around us.

"We've come this far, haven't we? Why not see if he was right?" He waved at the dead draugr. "If nothing else, we'll get more loot to sell."

I sighed and muttered, "I always wanted my own horse."

I walked over to my opponent and picked up the draugr's greatwsord. I swung it through the air experimentally. "I bet I could do a lot more damage with this, but it looked like it slowed the draugr down," I observed.

"Greatswords are much better for delivering blows, but their attack bonus is counterbalanced by a speed and blocking penalty," Lokir told me. "You can't use a shield with that kind of sword. Since you're just starting out with a sword, a greatsword or longsword will be equally challenging to master. I'd suggest you choose now which you want to focus on. It might be harder on you if you change your mind later on."

I swung the greatsword around a few more times thoughtfully, then shook my head and put it in my knapsack. "I like the idea of the extra damage, but since my visual field is limited on my left, I'd feel better with a shield on that side for extra protection."

"I hadn't thought of that," Lokir said. He picked up the two longswords from the other draugr. "These are in surprisingly good shape, given their age, but I think our current swords are better quality." He put the ancient longsword in his knapsack and held the other out to me. I took it from him and did the same.

We continued through the cavern. Up ahead it narrowed into a passageway that was lit by torches mounted along the walls, like most of the other rooms we had come through. This passageway had two-tiered rows of rectangular niches carved along each wall. Each of the dozens of niches held a draugr, lying on its back, seemingly laid to rest after death, but I could hear them breathing. Some were no more than skeletons, but most of them were intact.

I looked at the dozens of sleeping draugr, then back at Lokir. "Actually, I don't think I want a horse that badly," I whispered.

"It's not as bad as it looks," he whispered after surveying the scene for a moment in silence. "Listen. Draugr breathe very loudly, but you can only hear a few of them breathing. I think most of them have died."

I swiveled my ears, listening to the sounds of rattling breaths coming from the draugr. "You're right. Sounds like only four are breathing."

"Maybe we can sneak past them," he suggested.

I crouched and led the way, every hair on my body standing on end as I entered the hall between the rows of draugr. I shivered, imagining them all standing up at once. If we just kept quiet, we could slip by without alerting them.

I froze as I heard a rustling sound behind me. Then it turned into a metallic clinking. "Hey, this one still has gold in its purse!" Lokir whispered excitedly.

I turned my head to see Lokir rummaging in the items laid in the niche beside the first draugr on the lower left wall. "Lokir!" I hissed.

"If we don't disturb the live ones, we should be able to raid the others," he whispered back.

"You idiot!" I gritted my teeth and watched helplessly as he collected gold and weapons from the first few draugr. My tension started to ease off after he raided the fifth corpse without anything waking up. I looked at the rest of the drougr around us. I crept up to one and cautiously reached over it to the coin purse against the wall. There were six gold septims inside, which I added to my own coin purse. I picked up a bow and arrows next, which appeared better than my own hunting bow and iron arrows.

I heard a draugr snarl and Lokir gasp almost simultaneously. I spun around and saw Lokir backing away as the draugr he had been leaning over started to rise slowly from its stone bed. I leaped at it and brought my sword down with all my strength, taking it out with one blow. I heard another snarl behind me, and once again leaped and cut the draugr down before it fully rose. My fear faded away, replaced by an odd excitement. Three more began to rise at the far end of the hall. Lokir and I ran to meet them. I cut down a third one just as it was drawing its sword. Leaving the fourth for Lokir to deal with so he'd feel useful, I kept running, jumped into the air, and spun around and decapitated the fourth one, as I'd done to the bandit earlier.

I turned back to where Lokir was standing over his dead opponent, staring at me oddly. "Are you sure you're a beginner?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I swear I have no idea where this is coming from." I looked back at the rows of draugr. "I thought you said they all breathed loudly."

"I thought they did. Maybe it's part of the decaying process, and that first one hadn't reached that point yet." He shrugged and went back to raiding the draugr along the walls.

I groaned and put my head in my hands briefly, then went to stand behind him with my sword drawn and guard against any other surprises. But we had no further problem with the draugr waking up.

We continued down the tunnel. We encountered a few more draugr, these up and walking around, but had little difficulty with them. We picked most of them off with arrows before they reached us.

As we headed down yet another tunnel alongside an underground stream, I suddenly stopped and put a hand on his shoulder. "Wait. Do you hear that?"

"That roaring?" Lokir asked. "Sounds like a small waterfall. That must be the source of the stream."

I cocked my head and swiveled my ears. "I hear chanting, but I can't make out any words."

He shook his head. "I don't hear anything. Khajiit must have better hearing than Nords."

I frowned at him. It sounded pretty loud to me. "Let's be extra-cautious with the next room," I suggested.

The tunnel suddenly doubled in width. This part had intricate carvings on the wall, though I wasn't sure what they represented. At the end, we found a large round door with three ring-like segments, each divided into four sections that contained one of four symbols. In the center of the rings was a panel with three holes in it.

I frowned at the door. I took out the dragon claw and pushed its three talons into the holes, but nothing happened. "I wonder how we're supposed to open this."

"Look at the back of it," Lokir said. "It has three symbols on it. Some of those symbols are on the door's rings. Maybe we can turn them."

Once we lined up the three symbols in the upper quarters of the rings to match the pattern on the dragon claw and pushed the talons into the holes of the central panel again, the door opened. We cautiously entered the tunnel beyond.

The tunnel led to another large rounded room. There was a dais in the middle of the room with a large stone coffin resting on it, illuminated by sunlight pouring in through a hole in the roof, but no draugr in sight. Across from us, there was a semicircular alcove carved into the wall. The alcove had odd runic writing carved into it. I felt strangely drawn to the wall. The chanting seemed to be coming from it.

With no enemies in sight, we rose from our crouches and walked into the room. Every step I took closer to the strange wall made the chanting louder. "Can you hear it now?" I asked

Lokir shook his head. "I still don't hear anything…"

His words were cut short by the crunching sound of stone breaking. The lid on the coffin on the dais slid off and toppled to the floor. A draugr rose from the coffin, larger than any other we had seen, wielding a huge battleaxe.

"He looks tough," I said through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, looks like an Overlord," Lokir responded. "They're much harder to kill. Stay on my right so I can guard your blind side."

The draugr approached us slowly, but I was feeling impatient, and the excitement washed over me again. While Lokir hung back, I stepped forward to meet him. I ducked away as the draugr swung his axe at me. Lokir came forward to strike the draigr, but the draugr swung his axe back the other way, striking Lokir a blunt blow that sent him reeling. I darted back in and landed a blow to his side, but the draugr spun around and hit me with the pole of the axe, knocking me down as well. I rolled out of the way just in time to avoid another blow and scrambled to my feet. I got my shield up and just barely blocked another blow, a glancing one. I struck the draugr as he drew his axe back again, and backed away out of range of his counterattack.

The draugr said something in another language, then opened his mouth wide. His breath or voice seemed to form a solid object, striking me like a club. I was flung backwards, and I crashed unceremoniously to the stone floor of the dais, striking my back against the coffin. I held my shield up, but it was just barely adequate to block the draugr's next blow. I heard my arm break.

The draugr raised his axe again, but he staggered and turned around with a snarl. He had an arrow protruding from his back. I saw him flinch as Lokir fired another into the draugr's chest.

I heard the draugr say the strange phrase again. Knowing he was about to use whatever power he had just used on me to knock Lokir over, I steeled myself against the pain, rose to my knees and lunged at him. I mostly fell against him, sending him sprawling facedown on the floor.

Through the sudden roaring in my ears and blurriness of my vision from the incredible pain I was in, I saw Lokir bring his sword down twice on the fallen draugr's back. It finally stopped moving.

Lokir knelt beside me and put his hands on my back. My vision and hearing returned to normal as I felt the warmth of the healing spell course through my body. "Thank you," I wheezed.

"I'm not sure I could have done this without you," he panted. He healed himself as I pushed myself up again and tested out my arm, which was no longer broken. "A word of advice, though. You might want to try letting the enemies come to you instead of running to meet them."

"I'm a beginner. I'm still working on my technique." I pulled myself to my feet and looked into the coffin. Other than a bag of fifty gold coins, the only thing left inside was an odd pentagon-shaped slab of rock with some sort of map carved on it.

Lokir joined me and picked up the rock slab. "I wonder if this is worth anything?"

"It must be something special, if that draugr was guarding it." I looked at the odd wall again. "Or was he guarding that wall? I can still hear chanting."

"I still don't hear anything. I don't like this…"

I stepped around the coffin and approached the wall. The chanting kept getting louder. Suddenly one of the words on the wall started to glow white. In a dreamlike trance, I slowly raised my hands to touch the wall.

"Ra'watti, stop!" Lokir called, but his voice was drowned out by the chanting. A wind blew through the cavern, blowing my hair back and ruffling my fur. The word began to glow even brighter, becoming hard to look at. For a few seconds, the wind seemed to be blowing streams of light around me. As suddenly as it started, the chanting stopped, the wind settled and the glow faded, leaving me with a word in my head.

"_Fus_," I whispered.

"What?" Lokir asked shakily behind me.

I turned to face him. I probably looked as bewildered as he did. "I don't know. That word just appeared in my head."

He looked from me to the wall and back again. "What in Talos' name just happened?"

"I have no idea." I put my hand on the wall again, but it was just a stone wall now. "Was this the treasure? What does it mean?"

Lokir took a deep breath, let it out loudly and shook his knapsack and coin purse, both of which clinked cheerfully. "Well, whatever's going on here, I think we've been here long enough. We made out pretty well for our first bandit raid. I say we get out of here and head back to the shop." He pointed to the tunnel beside the strange wall. "Look at the light coming from that tunnel. That's sunlight."

We headed through the final tunnel. There was a heavy metal gate blocking it, but we found a handle on the wall that raised the gate. From there, the path sloped steeply downwards, opening onto a ledge about ten feet above the ground. We jumped down into the deep snow and found ourselves on the other side of the mountain, with a river visible at the bottom.

"That must be the river that flows past Riverwood." Lokir looked up at the sky. "Look at that. The sun's barely moved. We might be able to reach Whiterun by nightfall."

* * *

**SOUNDTRACK:** "E For Extinction" by Thousand Foot Krutch, "Invincible" by Pat Benatar, "Faster" by Within Temptation, "Another Way Out" by Hollywood Undead, "Whisper" by Evanescence

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** As previously mentioned, I took extensive liberties with the layout of Bleak Falls Barrow. I'll be doing so with all dungeons/labyrinths, since writing them exactly as they appear in the game would get boring.

This story is my first real attempt to write graphic violence with death as the intended outcome. I hope it didn't seem too wimpy. I'm very squeamish, but I'll try to work up the nerve to get bloody as I go.


	4. Dragonborn

**IV: Dragonborn**

Lucan was overjoyed to get the gold claw back, and kept his word to pay us well for its return. We sold our excess gear, bought better armor and still had a couple hundred septims apiece to show for our adventure.

After saying our farewells, we followed the path northeast from Riverwood through the mountains, then headed north as the terrain changed to a mostly open plain with mountains ringing it from all sides. Our destination, Whiterun, was on a tall hill standing out from the rest of the landscape a short walk north.

"So," Lokir began after we had been walking in silence for too long, "you never had any sword training before?"

"No, my parents thought my eye would hinder me," I grumbled. "They knew I was as good as anyone else with a bow. I think they just didn't want me turning into a warrior." I let out a heavy sigh. "Maybe things would have turned out differently if they had let me train. I don't know…"

I found myself telling him about the bandit attack, and about my life before it. After two years, the clawing pain of my loss had receded enough that I could talk about it without crying anymore.

"What about you?" I asked after I had said everything I wanted to. "You haven't said anything about your past."

He shrugged. "My parents had a small farm in Rorikstead. I suppose I was going to inherit it and settle down and tend a farm for the rest of my life, but…" He gritted his teeth. "Last year, we were attacked by vampires at night. They killed my parents before I knew what was happening. The guards heard me screaming and came in time to kill the vampires and save me, but I was the only survivor, and I had to be treated for Porphyric Hemophilia. Once I recovered, they told me that my father had extensive drinking and gambling debts, and the farm had to be sold to cover it. I was left homeless, but had a little money to survive on. It ran out two months ago and I couldn't find any other way to support myself, so I decided to try my hand as a thief. I had just stolen a horse and was trying to ride it into Cyrodiil to sell it when the Imperials mistook me for a Stormcloak."

"So, are you with the Thieves Guild?"

"No, not yet. Their base is way to the east, in Riften, so I heard. I'd have to go there to join, but I've only been at it for a couple of months. I had wanted to work on my skill first, in case you have to pass a test to join."

We neared the base of the hill. I noticed a house up ahead with a barn and fenced yard that contained a pair of dark brown horses. I looked back the way we had come. "That was a letdown. I was sure we'd at least encounter a wolf."

"If you travel enough, you'll long for peaceful trips like this. You don't want to go up against a cave bear or saber cat just yet."

"I guess I'm just restless. I liked fighting more than I thought I would." I frowned. "I didn't want to fight, but once I started… it was _fun_…"

"Looking to buy a horse?" a man standing by the fence up ahead called, noticing the way I had been eyeing the horses.

"I doubt we could afford one, but how much are they?" I asked.

"1,000 septims."

I winced. "I'll have to check back with you in a couple weeks," I sighed.

We started up the base of the hill. Up ahead, the stone walls of the city rose up several times my height. An armed guard stood on either side of a pair of huge iron-bound wooden doors.

I stopped and whispered, "I've never been allowed inside a gated city before."

"Never?" Lokir asked.

I shook my head. "Not once in all the fifteen years I traveled with my parents. They think all Khajiit are criminals and smugglers."

"What about in Cyrodiil?"

"My parents never went to the large cities. They said that was where the criminals would flock. They had a few bad experiences with thieves before I was born and never got over it."

He looked at the gate, then back at me. "Well, you're the one who actually saw the dragon. I barely remember a thing. If they want to save their city, they have to let you in."

I nodded. "What if the guards won't listen?"

He regarded me for a moment. "Without doing anything illegal, you need to just not take _no _for an answer. Walk up to them like you belong here."

"Umm… okay…"

"Look at you. You're cringing when you look at the guards. Law-abiding citizens don't have to cringe." He stood in front of me and struck a pose with his head raised haughtily and his chest puffed out. "Try this."

"Won't that just make them stare at my breasts?"

"Ra'wati, they're going to do that anyway."

I gave him a dirty look.

He shook his head sadly. "Do you really still need life sugar-coated for you? What if codpieces were still in style? Look me in the eye and tell me you'd never check them out."

I growled softy, admitting defeat, and tried to mimic him. I raised my head, puffed out my chest and threw back my shoulders. "Like this?"

"Yes, good. Now keep your head up. Look down your nose at them. Don't let them intimidate you. Walk up there like you're a noble who lives there and they're idiots who don't recognize you."

I nodded, took a deep breath and marched proudly up the stone path to the gate, wishing I felt as confident as I looked.

"Where do you think you're going, Khajiit?" one of the guards asked, stepping in front of me right before I reached the gate. "You know the rules. And the city's closed on account of the dragon attack on Helgen."

_I'm a noble who belongs here and I'm going to get you thrown into the dungeon, you ignorant rat, _I thought. I looked down my nose at him. "I need to see the Jarl…"

"The Jarl?" the guard laughed.

"Yes," I interrupted, refusing to lose my composure. "We escaped the dragon attack at Helgen and bring a message from the people of Riverwood. The Jarl needs to hear about it."

"Helgen?" the other guard asked. "We'd better let her through."

"So there really was a dragon?" the first guard asked.

"Yes, a black one larger than a farmhouse," I said, maintaining my haughty pose and tone. "I barely escaped. Most were not so lucky."

"She saw more than I did," Lokir added quickly, before the guards could decide to only let him inside. "I was injured and barely conscious for most of it, while she was out in the open trying to save people."

The guard looked from me to his fellow guard and back again. "Okay, Khajiit," he sighed, "you can enter, but don't cause any trouble. We'll be watching you."

I gave him a withering look and walked through city gates for the first time in my life.

There was a lot of empty space before me. Individual houses were surrounded by large yards. A cobblestone path curved away up the hill.

"Well, what do you think?" Lokir asked.

"Smaller than I expected," I said with a shrug. "My parents said there were multi-story buildings packed together in rows with narrow streets between them in Cyrodiil. This… it almost looks like a farming village."

"The city of Solitude is more like that. Maybe you'll get to go there someday."

We continued up the path. We came to a round well with a general goods store, apothecary, a tavern and a couple open-air market stalls encircling it. I looked down my nose at each shop, making a mental note in case I needed to unload loot here in the future. To the left, a wide set of stairs were built into a steeper hill. At the top of these stairs was another level area with a large, apparently dead tree in the middle, with benches arranged around the base. A temple of Kynareth and several large houses ringed the area. From there, a final multi-tiered staircase separated by landings meandered up to a large castle built on top of the hill.

"That's Dragonreach," Lokir said, waving at the castle. "Legend says it was built to trap a dragon, back before they were all wiped out. I've heard its skull hangs above the jarl's throne."

I looked back at the town. It looked like all of the buildings off the main path were houses. It wasn't how I expected walled cities to be arranged. I shrugged and turned to the castle. We walked along a path under a roof held up by decorative arches, up to a set of doors as large as those leading into the city. There were no guards to challenge our presence, so we let ourselves in.

The doors opened into the throne room of the castle, or the great hall, I wasn't sure. The building was not as grand as I had expected from my parents' stories, appearing to be constructed mainly of wooden beams rather than stone, but its size was still impressive, with three levels. We walked through the first part of the room flanked by decorative pillars that must have been carved from whole tree trunks and up one short set of stairs to the second level, where a large lit firepit was set into the floor, with a row of long dining tables on either side. Another short set of stairs led to the third level, where a throne was set in the middle almost against the back wall. The jarl was seated on the throne, arguing with several people.

"Stop!" a Dunmer woman ordered as we approached. She came down the stairs and blocked our path, giving me a disdainful look. "What are you doing inside the city, Khajiit? What business do you have interrupting the Jarl?"

I raised my head even higher and gave her my haughtiest glare. "We were at Helgen when the dragon attacked. We also bring a plea for aid from the people of Riverwood. My companion was injured during the attack and saw much less than I did."

"Oh," she said, still sounding disapproving. "I see why they let you in the gates. Follow me, then."

Jarl Balgruuf had overheard our exchange. "So, it's true about the dragon? What can you tell me about Helgen? Were you there trading?"

Lokir gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze, so I took a deep breath and stepped forward. "No, I lost my family and caravan to bandits two years ago. We were separately caught up in a battle between Jarl Ulfric and the Imperials. They had us lined up at the chopping block when the dragon appeared."

"Hmm," Balgruuf said disapprovingly. "At least you're honest about your criminal past."

"Criminal past?" I spluttered. "My companion and I were merely in the area and I was armed with a hunting bow for subsistence purposes when the fight broke out. They knew we were not Imperial soldiers, so they decided to execute us with no evidence." I hesitated, then slipped my fingers into my collar and pulled out my Talos amulet. "However, I was wearing this necklace I took off my mother's body after she was murdered by bandits. I have spent most of my life either in Cyrodiil or on my own, so I had no idea Talos worship was illegal." I slipped the necklace back into my shirt.

Balgruuf looked over at Lokir, noting he had not denied the criminal allegations, then waved his hand dismissively. "No matter. If you two prove useful, I can have you pardoned for any crimes you have committed before. Now continue."

I continued telling him what little I could about the dragon, Jarl Ulfric's escape, and how Riverwood had no guards to protect it, should the dragon head there next.

"I'll send a detachment of soldiers to Riverwood at once," Jarl Balgruuf said once I had finished. "For now, my court magician Farengar could use some help from a couple of adventures like you. Come with me."

He rose from his throne and led us into a room off the right side of the main hall. A Nord wearing magician's robes was seated at a desk covered with soul gems, potions and potion ingredients. An Arcane Enchanter and an alchemy lab stood against the walls.

"Farengar, I think I've found some people to help you with your little dragon project," the Jarl said. He introduced us briefly, then returned to his throne to resume his argument with his advisers.

Farengar rose from his desk and looked us over critically. "I suppose you look more competent than the usual brutes Balgruuf sends my way," he observed, giving me a curious look.

"Did you hear what we told the Jarl about the dragon?" Lokir asked.

"Yes. Now I wonder if you two might fetch an item for me."

I didn't like the way he said _fetch_. "Okay, where do you need us to go and what are we looking for?" I asked.

"Straight to the point, eh? I like that. I've heard rumors that there's a 'dragonstone,' an old carved stone tablet, in an ancient Nord burial mound called Bleak Falls Barrow."

"Wait," I said. I rummaged around in my pack and pulled out the pentagon-shaped tablet we had found in the draugr Overlord's coffin. "This thing?"

Farengar laughed. "Well, I'm impressed. Yes, that's exactly what I was looking for."

"What is it, exactly?"

"My research says it's a map of old dragon burial sites. I have a theory about their return…" He shook his head and took the heavy tablet from me. "But that's none of your concern."

"So, do we get a reward for being so prompt?" Lokir asked.

Farengar looked around the room quickly. "Well, I'm not sure I have much you'd be interested in. The Jarl will certainly reward you…" He waved at a stack of dusty old books on a table in the corner. "I suppose you could have those old spellbooks. I have no use for them."

I turned to the table. "What level spells are they?"

"Oh, don't worry, they're all for novices," he said condescendingly. "Turn Lesser Undead, Oakflesh, Healing Hands…"

I had vaulted over the desk and pounced on the stack of books like a predator before I realized what I was doing. "Thank the Nine!" I practically squealed when the first volume I picked up turned out to be Healing Hands. I flopped down on the floor and opened it.

"Is she all right?" I dimly heard Farengar asking, sounding vaguely worried.

"She's been talking about that spell constantly for as long as I've known her," Lokir exaggerated.

I quickly read the volume, feeling the knowledge seeping into my mind, the book slowly dissolving as I absorbed its contents. It soon vanished in a cloud of dust, leaving me with a healing spell flickering around inside my head. "Finally," I breathed. I picked up the next book, Healing, and absorbed it as well.

"Feel better now?" Lokir asked once I stood up again, coated with the dust of many new spells.

"Oh, yeah, adventuring is going to be much safer for both of us now…" I trailed off and frowned. I had never actually used magic before. Sudden doubt crept into my mind.

"Something wrong?" Lokir asked.

"I need to test something," I said slowly. I walked up to him and put my hand under his chin, turning his head to the proper angle. He gave me a confused look and opened his mouth to ask what I was doing, but before he could, I drew back my fist and socked him in the nose.

He stumbled back with a startled cry, but before he could do anything, I had grabbed his arms and focused on my new knowledge of Healing Hands. His broken nose healed before my eye. "YES!" I shouted, hopping up in the air and spinning around in my elation, my tail striking several soul gems and knocking them to the floor.

"Hey, watch it!" Farengar called angrily, but he hung back warily.

Lokir rubbed his nose and gave me a baleful look. "You could have warned me…"

"And had you brace yourself? No, I needed to be sure I could heal an actual wound."

"You still could have warned me," he grumbled.

"Hey, better this way than finding out when you're dying in battle, right?" I frowned. "Hang on, what if I don't really know how to heal myself?" I put my hands down by my sides and presented my face to him. "Hit me."

"W-what?" he stuttered.

"Hit me!" I shouted. "I need to be sure I can heal myself!"

He backed away from me. Farengar had also backed away, looking at me as if I had lost it. "Ra'wati, I'm sure if you mastered one novice spell on your first try, any novice spell should work…"

"Oh, you're impossible," I growled. I turned my back on him and drew my iron dagger.

My experiment was interrupted by the door to the great hall banging open, followed by an exhausted voice screaming, "_Dragon!_" I quickly sheathed my dagger and followed Farengar and Lokir out to the great hall.

A Nord guardsman was being helped into one of the chairs at a table by other guards. Jarl Balgruuf and the Dunmer woman were running over to him. "What happened?" Balgruuf called.

"A dragon came from the south," the guard panted. "I was at the Western Watchtower. They told me to warn the city while they tried to fight it. I've never run so fast in my life…"

"Was it attacking?" Jarl Balgruuf asked.

"No, it was just sort of… circling," the guard said.

Balgruuf nodded. "You've done well. Return to the barracks and rest. Irileth," he said, turning to the Dunmer woman, "gather some troops and head to the Western Watchtower. I don't want this to be a suicide mission. We need information on that dragon, not a dead battalion."

"Yes, Jarl," she said, turning away and running for the door.

"You two," Balgruuf said, turning to me and Lokir. "You know more about dragon attacks than anyone else here. You go with Irileth."

"Um… okay," I said, too surprised at first to argue that running in terror shouldn't count as much experience.

* * *

We followed Irileth and half a dozen Whiterun guards to the Western Watchtower. The place was a mess now, with fires burning and great chunks of the stone wall strewn around its base, but there was no dragon in sight.

"It's definitely been here," Irileth said. "Spread out."

I walked up to the tower. It was circular, with a wooden staircase spiraling up to the top. Lokir and I climbed it and surveyed the surrounding landscape.

"There it is!" I heard one of the guards shouting. I heard the dragon roar, then begin to breathe fire. I ran to the side of the tower and drew my bow.

"Do you really think arrows will do any good against that thing?" Lokir asked as he drew his own bow.

"I don't have anything else to fight it with, unless it lands," I said.

I aimed at the dragon's back and fired as it flew low beneath us. I saw no reaction as my arrow struck it. Dozens of other arrows followed. The dragon just kept flying, roaring and breathing fire on the ground.

For several minutes, we peppered the dragon with arrows. Nothing seemed to change.

"What if it's immune to arrows?" I moaned, fear starting to take over. "We're all going to die here…"

I had barely finished speaking when the dragon made a heavy, ungraceful landing on the ground. It wobbled slightly, then breathed fire at the soldiers charging at it.

"It's wounded!" Lokir exclaimed. He aimed his bow and let another arrow fly. "We can win this, after all!"

Down below, as the dragon finished its fire blast and paused to draw breath, the guards attacked its face with their swords. The dragon began snapping at them. One of the guards lunged forward and struck the dragon across the jaw. It jerked its head back, raising it up like a snake, them struck down at the guard, swallowing him whole.

"By the Nine!" I gasped, watching in horror as the squirming bulge traveled down the dragon's neck and disappeared inside its body. I turned and ran for the stairs.

"Ra'wati, wait, we can fight from up here!" Lokir called, grabbing my tail.

"You do that," I snapped, jerking my tail free. "I'm not hiding behind anyone else." By the time I reached the base of the tower steps, I had put away my bow and drawn my sword.

The dragon was still on the ground, biting at Irileth and two guards. The remaining three guards had backed off and were panting on the ground a short distance away.

I ran at the dragon. It had its right side facing me. I leaped and hacked into its side with everything I had. It roared, but was too busy to turn to face me, so I regained my footing and kept hacking at it.

The dragon suddenly swung its head around and slammed it into me, sending me flying. I crashed to the ground, coming to rest against a boulder, feeling ribs break. The pain stole my breath briefly.

_I can heal myself now, _I thought, desperately clinging to consciousness. I called up the knowledge and relaxed as the pain receded. I shakily crawled to my feet. A part of me wanted to retreat, but another part was bathing in the sudden rush of excitement the prospect of a battle brought on. I collected my sword and ran to meet the dragon again.

"You idiot!" I heard Lokir growl right behind me, though I pretended he was addressing the dragon. Next thing I knew, he was at my right side. We both ran back to its right side and began attacking again.

The dragon finally jerked away. It backed off a few steps, then turned to face Lokir and me.

Too fast for either of us to react, its head darted forward. Its jaws closed over Lokir, biting down into his waist. It picked him up and swung its head away violently to my right, beginning to shake him like a dog killing a rat.

"Gods, no!" I screamed. I raised my sword.

The dragon's head whipped to the right, then violently jerked back to the left. I jumped at it with my sword over my head, swinging it down with everything I had as the dragon's head swung back in my direction.

I struck the dragon in the neck, half-severing it.

I toppled to the ground unceremoniously. Behind me, I heard the dragon let out a final, strangled cry, muffled by Lokir's body still in its mouth. Then its long neck fell with a heavy thud.

I rolled over and jumped to my feet, ready to finish it off, but I could see it was dying. Its limbs writhed feebly, digging furrows into the rocky soil, then its body seemed to relax.

Suddenly fire appeared around the base of its neck and around its wing membranes. Within a matter of seconds, the fire spread all over the dragon's body. I heard it crackling briefly, then a wind rose up, just like the strange wind at the wall in Bleak Falls Barrow. The wind began to roar as it swirled around me, drawing streamers of fire with it, drowning everything else out. I closed my eyes and held my arms out, suddenly feeling a strange sense of energy washing over me and settling into my mind. I could feel the heat of the fire, but it was refreshing rather than unpleasant. As the wind slowly died down again, I thought I heard the strange chanting once more, then it was gone.

I opened my eyes and looked at the burning dragon, but it was nothing more than a bleached skeleton now.

Lokir was still protruding halfway from the dragon's jaws, his body and clothing untouched by the flames. The surrounding grass was also untouched. Before I could take this all in, I heard Lokir groan softly.

I rushed forward and grabbed his arms where they reached through the gap in the dragon's bottom jaw, jerking him away from the skeleton.

"My legs," Lokir gasped feebly. "I can't feel my legs. Did he bite them off?"

I pulled his shirt up and surveyed the damage. The dragon's teeth had pierced his torso deeply, severing his spine. I was afraid to look at his belly. I gritted my teeth, put my hands on his back and focused on Healing Hands. "I'll make it better," I hissed, closing my eyes and focusing everything I had on the spell.

I heard a rustling and a moan from farther along the dragon's skeleton. I looked over and saw the soldier the dragon had swallowed was lying on the ground inside the dragon's ribcage, weakly trying to sit up. "Somebody help him!" I shouted.

The others broke from their shocked trance and ran over to help their comrade. I turned back to Lokir. "Can you feel them yet?" I asked. I could see his wounds slowly closing.

"I… I don't know…" he wheezed. "It tingles…"

I heard one of the guards walk up behind me. "You… you're the Dragonborn," he breathed.

"The what?" I asked, not looking away from Lokir. The healing was tapering off, and I realized I had used up all my magicka.

"The dragon's soul," he said softly. "You absorbed the dragon's soul, didn't you?"

"I have no idea," I said tersely. I frantically pulled two magicka potions from my pack, chugged them and went back to healing Lokir.

"They said in the old days, back when there were still dragons, there were people called Dragonborn, who could use the Voice without training, just as dragons do. Do you know how to do it? Can you Shout?"

"Busy," I growled between my teeth. If he wanted me to shout at him, he was certainly on the right path…

"That wall with words carved into it…" Lokir panted, sounding weaker.

"Don't you dare die on me," I growled. "You still owe me a few more lessons with the sword…"

"That word you heard after you touched the wall…"

"Yes, we can worry about that later. Save your breath." His wounds were almost closed now. He started to move his legs again.

"A Word Wall?" the soldier asked excitedly. "I've heard legends of those. So you must be the Dragonborn! Can you use the Voice?"

"_Busy,_" I repeated.

"Try the word you learned from the Word Wall. If you really are Dragonborn…"

I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached. My magicka had run out once more, but Lokir's wounds were mostly superficial now. "I think I can take it from here," he panted. So I nodded, stood and turned to face the guard.

_You asked for it. _I took a deep breath, focused on the new sensation of power the dragon's death had given me, and shouted, "_FUS!_"

A wave of energy seemed to project from my mouth. The guard was knocked off his feet. Another standing a few feet behind him was staggered, but remained standing.

"Just like that overlord…" Lokir whispered.

"Dragonborn," the fallen guard breathed.

"Enough!" Irileth interrupted disapprovingly. "This is no time for foolishly going on about things you know nothing about. You – Ra'wati? – go back to the Jarl and tell him what happened. I'll take care of everything here for now."

"But Lokir…"

She sighed, having seen how I refused to be interrupted while healing him. "Fine. There's a carriage just outside of Whiterun, near the foot of the hill. Go fetch it and load our injured on it."

I nodded and finally rose to my feet. As I turned back to Whiterun, the ground suddenly began to rumble. Off to my right, from the top of the tallest mountain in sight, I heard a sound like thunder, then several voices calling in a language I didn't understand. The ground seemed to shake from the volume of the voices.

"What was that?" I asked once everything had quieted down.

Irileth no longer looked disapproving. "The Greybeards. They haven't spoken in centuries…"

The soldier I had knocked down interrupted, "They're calling to you. You really _are _the Dragonborn!"

* * *

**SOUNDTRACK**: "Who We Are" by Red, "Trenches" by Pop Evil, "Born To Rise" by Redlight King, "Frontline" by Pillar, "Stand My Ground" by Within Temptation, "Now" by Fireflight, "Burn MF" by Five Finger Death Punch, "Dark Wings" by Within Temptation, "We Are One" by 12 Stones, "It Has Begun" by Starset.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: The codpiece really used to be a common fashion accessory for men centuries ago. (I spend a lot of time on Tumblr, so I know some people will see that exchange as trivializing rape culture. All I can say is it's not meant to be passing judgment on the issue, just making a humorous observation on human nature.)

As you might be able to tell from the spellbook scene, Ra'wati is not your typical stoic bada$$ hero. As the story progresses, she is going to realize she has a cold-blooded, bloodthirsty killer in her soul, but she's always going to be a bit quirky.


	5. Priorities

**V: Priorities**

"That wasn't the same dragon," I said wearily. "The one at Helgen must have been twice that size or more."

Lokir nodded. "I barely remember it, but it was enormous. That one... well, it was big, but not that big."

We were seated at one of the dining tables in Dragonsreach. The soldier who had been swallowed was seated beside us, still a little burned from stomach acid but otherwise outwardly recovered from his ordeal. The jarl had ordered his servants to bring out leftover venison stew and warm it for us, so we were having a late supper as we made our report. I had done most of the talking, as Lokir and the soldier were still hollow-eyed from shock. Lokir kept complaining about an odd tingling in his legs, but he was able to walk again now, albeit very unsteadily.

Jarl Balgruuf shook his head sadly. "I suppose it was too much to hope it was only one dragon causing trouble."

"At least we know weapons will work against them," one of the other soldiers said optimistically.

"Yes. We have a hope of defending the city, after all." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Now that that's settled, there is still the matter of the Dragonborn."

I had been eyeing a cheese wheel on the table beside me, but this drew my attention back to the jarl. "I honestly don't know what the deal is with that. I've never heard of the Dragonborn before, or the Greybeards."

"No matter. The Greybeards will explain everything to you, much better than anyone else could. But there could be no doubt they were calling to you. They haven't spoken in centuries, and now they do just moments after you seemingly used the Voice. That's no coincidence."

I frowned unhappily as I thought back to that mountain. That enormous mountain that seemed to graze the heavens. "So I have to climb that mountain now and speak with them?"

"They don't live at the top of the mountain, so I hear. Just near the top. A lot of people make the pilgrimage. I've heard them say it's 7,000 steps to their home."

"Great," I muttered.

"But you don't have to worry about that tonight. Go to the barracks with the soldiers and rest."

"Is there a bathhouse in the city?" I asked as I slowly climbed to my feet and stretched. Rest sounded good right now.

He frowned at me, then laughed. "I forgot how fastidious cats are. Yes, there's one in the barracks. You shouldn't have much competition."

"More's the pity," I grumbled. Nords, I had noticed, were not as keen on bathing as my people.

The soldier who had been swallowed was helped to his feet by several friends, and the jarl waved them out of the room, motioning for Lokir and me to stay. "One last thing. I have decided to make both of you thanes of Whiterun."

"Umm... what's a thane?" I asked, ruining the moment.

"It's a title granted to people of special importance in the hold," Balgruff explained. "You will be respected by the people, and the guards will know to look the other way if you tell them to. They'll still report any crimes you commit, mind you, the guards just won't drag you off to jail for it. And the guards will also know not to challenge you when you try to enter the city."

"Oh. Thank you," I said.

"Also, to thank you for killing the dragon, I will see to it, just this once, that any bounties you have racked up in other holds are paid off," he said, glancing at Lokir, "and I'll have messages sent to the other holds letting them know that you are a thane and should not be challenged if you try to enter the city."

"You are very generous," Lokir said, confirming my suspicions that he had a bounty on his head somewhere.

"Finally, the title of thane also comes with the service of a housecarl, and the right to buy houses inside the city."

"How much does a house in the city go for?" I asked curiously.

"I hear there's a nice little place called Breezehome down near the gates for 5,000 septims."

I frowned. That was a lot, but less than I had expected. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Lydia!" Jarl Balgruuf called, and an armored Nord woman marched up to him. "This is Lydia, your new housecarl. Lydia, show them to the barracks."

"Yes, Jarl," Lydia said, giving us a somewhat disapproving look. "Follow me."

She led us back out the palace doors and down the stairs. As we approached the tree, I looked up at its leafless branches, sensing that there was something special about it.

"Spare a coin, kind lady?" I heard a small voice ask.

A little girl, no more than 10, was seated on one of the benches under the tree. She was looking up at me hopefully.

I pulled a few coins out of my coin purse and handed them to her.

"Oh, thank you! Divines bless your kind heart!" she said enthusiastically.

"Why are you out begging?" Lokir asked. "Don't your parents give you an allowance?"

Her face fell. "They're... dead," she said quietly. "My aunt and uncle took over the farm, but they told me I was useless and threw me out. I had nowhere to go, so I started walking, and I found myself here."

"By the Eight, I'm sorry," Lokir said. He took a few of his own coins and handed them to the girl.

"Thank you, kind sir!" She rose from the bench and gave us a quick hug before skipping down the stairs. I watched her disappear into the local inn, the Bannered Mare.

"That's Lucia," Lydia said sadly. "Sounds like she's from Cyrodiil. I hear the innkeeper feeds her in exchange for doing chores around the inn."

"Why doesn't someone take her in?" I asked incredulously.

Lydia frowned and shook her head. "I don't know. I live in the barracks, so I have no way to help her. There are families here with children who have room for her, but..." She shrugged. "There's an orphanage in Riften where the Jarl could send her, but we've heard rumors that the woman in charge of it is cruel to the children and some have even run away to get away from her."

I frowned thoughtfully. "What about that empty house? If I bought it, could I adopt her?"

"Certainly," Lydia said.

I absently shook my coin purse. "I have several hundred gold now, but I wanted to buy a horse..."

"We could split it," Lokir suggested. "Share the house. It would be handy to have a safe place to store things."

"All right!" I said happily. "We'll need to find a way to make a lot of gold fast..." I trailed off as something occurred to me. "Hey, am I supposed to pay you?" I asked Lydia.

"Not right now," she sighed. "At some point in the future, yes. For now, I'm supposed to guard you and manage your... estate." She said the last derisively.

"Oh. How about you come along on bandit raids and we'll let you pick through the loot?"

She looked surprised, letting me know this was a more lucrative opportunity than she had expected. "Very well, but I can wait until you buy the house."

"Okay. So, any ideas on where we can find some bandits?"

"The Jarl usually has a bounty out on a local bandit leader or a marauding giant," Lydia suggested. "He usually leaves the information with the innkeeper. And I heard the Companions are open for new members."

"Who are the Companions?" I asked.

"Mercenaries, basically," Lydia said dismissively, "but they'll pay you for your help."

"All right," Lokir said wearily, "let's check with the innkeeper and the Companions first thing tomorrow morning. Right now I really want a hot bath and a soft bed."

"I didn't think Nords were that into bathing," I teased.

"Well, none of them have ever been coated with dragon drool."

* * *

Once again, Lokir was fully recovered once he got a full night's rest. We rose shortly before dawn and went to the practice yard for another swordfighting lesson. We practiced until the sun was up, then sat down for a break.

"You're getting better," Lokir observed. "A few more lessons and you'll know everything I can teach you." He laughed. "I'm a bit worried about you reaching that point. Then you won't really have a reason to save me anymore."

"I didn't really mean what I said after we fought the dragon," I said quickly. "I was just, you know, I was afraid if I expressed some sort of feelings for you, you might misinterpret them in your injured state and think I have a crush on you, and I didn't want everything to get awkward between us, and…"

"Hey, that's okay," he interrupted. "I know what you mean. If you'd fallen on me weeping and wailing about not wanting to be alone, I'd be wary."

I nodded, relieved. "I hate that we have to have this conversation. It wouldn't be necessary if I had been born male. But I just wanted to be absolutely certain we're buying that house solely as a base and home for orphans."

Lokir laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not after you. I don't see anything wrong with having a female bandit-hunting partner I'm not trying to sleep with."

"Glad we have that settled," I said happily, then asked slowly, "Have you ever heard of a half-Khajiit, half-Nord?"

"No. I really don't know if that's even possible."

"Me neither. Nerevarine Ma'hini spoke of a man who claimed to be half-troll, but… I don't know. There are a lot of things my parents never discussed with me. Maybe they didn't want me running off with a man or mer and abandoning the caravan."

Lydia cleared her throat beside us, making us jump. "I just came back from the inn. The jarl has a bounty out on the leader of a group of bandits in a place called Halted Stream Camp." She handed the letter to me.

I read it over, then handed it to Lokir. "Do you know where that is?" I asked her.

She nodded. "It's a short walk north of Whiterun. You can have it cleared out and be back here by noon."

"So we'll do that first, and then we can check in on the Companions."

"You're not going to see the Greybeards just yet?" Lydia asked.

"No, they can wait. I have important things to do first. That little girl needs a home." I looked over my shoulder, at the massive mountain visible over the city wall. "And I don't think I want to tackle that mountain on foot. I'd rather have a horse first."

"I think we should focus on the horses first," Lokir suggested. "Skyrim's horses are almost as sure-footed as mountain goats. They'd be very useful for getting over the mountains. And if we're going to be raiding bandit camps and running errands for the Companions, it might be a good idea to have horses to ride to our destinations. It would save us a lot of time."

"I suppose so," I said reluctantly. "We ought to be able to afford the horses once we finish with Halted Stream Camp."

Lokir rose to his feet. "Let's get to it, then."

* * *

After eating breakfast with the soldiers, Lokir, Lydia and I headed out the city gates and followed the road as it went east around Whiterun's hill and continued north. The terrain around the base of the large hill was rougher than it had been on our walk to Whiterun, so it was harder to see if anything was lying in wait for us. But we saw no predators as we crossed a small stone bridge and passed a couple small farms.

As I was listening for bears or saber cats, a strange high-pitched screaming began to the north. It was too far away for me to make out any words. "Do you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can hear it this time," Lokir said warily. "Should we investigate?"

"It doesn't sound like a battle," Lydia pointed out.

"It sounds like it's on our path, so we have little choice," I said. "Let's just be careful."

We drew our weapons and continued along the path.

The path up ahead curved around a rocky outcropping. Once we passed that, the land became somewhat flatter, The path up ahead abruptly sloped downwards, and far ahead we could see a single-horse cart with a broken wheel beside the path. A man dressed as a jester was standing beside it, screaming in that high-pitched voice.

I looked back at the other two. "Should we see what's up?"

"Looks like he's the only one," Lydia observed. "And I can see a couple of guards patrolling in the distance. We should be safe."

Lokir led the way down the path to the stranded cart. "Is something wrong?" he called.

"Cicero is stuck and no one will help poor Cicero!" the jester screeched. His voice set my teeth on edge. "Cicero is trying to transport his poor dead mother, but that wheel! That accursed wheel! The Daedra take that rotten wheel!"

I looked at the wooden box on the back of the cart. It looked about big enough for a dead horse, but why would anyone be carting a dead horse around? Wasn't he worried about the meat spoiling?

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Lokir interrupted, as it sounded like the jester could go on cursing that wheel for a long time.

"The farmers," he whined, making me flinch. "Cicero asked the farmers for help, but they will not help poor Cicero! Cicero offered them shiny, clinky gold to help him, but they told him to go away!"

"We'll talk to the farmers," I said quickly, willing to do anything to make him stop screaming. "We'll get them to help you, okay?"

"Oh, you will?" he squealed.

"Yes, right away," I assured him, fighting the urge to put my hands over my ears. I turned and bolted for the nearby farmhouse.

"So… _his _name is Cicero, not the horse's?" I asked as Lokir caught up to me.

Lokir shrugged. "I think so."

A Nord was tending a row of potato plants in a fence beside the farmhouse up ahead. He stopped what he was doing and watched us approach warily. "I take it the jester sent you," he called.

"Yeah, he can't go anywhere until he gets that wheel fixed," Lokir said. "Is there some reason you won't help him?"

The farmer sighed and shook his head. "I don't like him. There's something about him… It's not that voice or how he calls himself by name, or him carting his mother's corpse around. There's something else about him… He's dangerous."

"He can't go anywhere," I pointed out. "If you leave him there, he'll still be here tonight. Do you want him lurking around your property after dark?"

The farmer winced, then sighed. "All right. Tell him I'm collecting my tools and I'll be down to help him shortly."

We returned to Cicero to give him the good news, bracing for the assault on our ears.

"Oh, thank you1" he squealed at even higher pitch when we gave him the news. "Divines bless you1 Now Cicero can take his mother to her new resting place!" He started dancing briefly, then stopped and pulled out his coin purse. "Here, as promised, shiny, clinky coins!" He gave us each 100 cons, then resumed dancing.

"Thanks," I said as we happily turned to go. "Just… try not to scare the farmer away, okay?"

We headed out of earshot at a fast walk and paused to consult our map, seeing that we should have taken the west route around Whiterun, not east. We were far out of the way. As we started walking again, we saw the farmer heading down to Cicero's cart with a sack presumably carrying his tools.

"I wonder why he's dressed as a jester," Lydia said. "He seemed crazy, but I agree with the farmer, there's more than that going on with him…"

"I doubt we'll ever know," Lokir said.

We had to leave the road now, and our path led us across several small hills and valleys. As we reached the top of the last one, we saw a fence made of sharpened logs planted in the ground, surrounding a small camp.

"That must be it," Lydia said, consulting the map.

"I'm hunting people for money," I muttered as I drew my bow.

"You saw the jarl's bounty letter," Lokir said. "These aren't innocent people. They've been actively attacking and killing innocent people."

I sighed. "I know, but it still seems wrong." I shrugged, thinking back to Lucia. I was doing this to help her, not because I liked killing, right?

We fell silent as we approached the palisade. We could hear people talking faintly from inside, but there were no sentries outside.

Up ahead, I saw a woman appear above the palisade; obviously they had a raised platform for sentries inside. She had her back to us, so before she could turn around, I aimed for the back of her neck and fired. She staggered, and I fired another arrow. She went down and stayed down.

"What was that?" a man called from inside the palisade. Then we heard several people drawing their weapons and running for the entrance to the palisade.

Lydia put away her bow, drew her sword and ran to meet them.

As I exchanged my own weapons, I gave Lokir a wry look and said, "Apparently it's not just me."

"That's still not a strategy I'd recommend," he snapped.

The bandits gave us little trouble, so we were soon picking through their belongings. Lydia gave me a sidelong look and observed, "For someone who didn't want to hunt people for money, you sure seemed to enjoy yourself."

I gave her a troubled look. "I don't know what's up with that. I don't want to hurt or kill anybody normally, but once the battle starts, in the heat of the moment, it's fun. Is that normal?"

"I've heard of plenty of people who enjoyed battles, but I don't know of any of them who were reluctant beforehand. You'll get over it soon enough."

"I don't think any of these bandits was the leader," Lokir called from where he was searching the last corpse across the fenced camp.

Lydia pointed to a wooden door set into the side of a rocky hill inside the palisade. "The others must be inside that old mine."

"Looks like we've gotten everything of value out here," Lokir said, drawing his sword and heading for the door to the mine.

Inside, the mine was a rough-hewn stone tunnel as I'd expected, lit by sconces fastened to the walls. Some fifty feet in front of us, a bandit was standing with his back to us, tending a fire. I drew my bow, once again reminding myself that these bandits were actively harming innocent people, and shot him in the back. Like the sentry earlier, he staggered, and went down with my second arrow.

He didn't raise an alarm, so after listening for a moment to make sure nobody was

coming to check on him, we crept forward slowly.

Lydia stopped at an old mining cart on our left. "Whoa, look at these," she said, picking up a huge curved white spike. "They must be poaching mammoths."

She tossed me the heavy mammoth tusk and pulled two more out of the cart, tossing another to Lokir. "These are worth a bit," I observed, putting it in my pack.

A tunnel led off to the right. Up ahead, we saw a dead mammoth lying on the floor of a large room. There were three other Nord bandits, and a huge Orc armed with a battleaxe.

We drew our bows. I did my best to gesture at the Orc, letting them know I was going to go for him, and they silently indicated they chose two of the other bandits. I took aim and waited until Lokir and Lydia had done the same, then we fired at the same time.

Lokir missed, but Lydia and I hit our targets. The Orc staggered and spun around, drawing his battleaxe, while Lydia's bandit went down on one knee. The Orc and the other two bandits came running for us. Lydia and Lokir put away their bows and drew their weapons, while I tried for one more shot.

I wasn't used to aiming at targets coming in my direction at high speed, so I misjudged it and fired when one of the bandits was only a few feet away from me. It hit him in the stomach, but he kept coming. I dropped my bow and tried ducking his blow as I tried to draw my sword. His sword hit me in the side, but it wasn't full-force as I rolled away. I rolled to my feet with my sword out and shield up.

My wound was forgotten as the excitement overtook me again. I tuned everything out as I clashed with my opponent. He seemed to know how to fight better than the opponents I had faced in Bleak Falls Barrow. I was so focused on my opponent that I barely noticed anything else around me.

"Your left, Ra'wati!" Lokir shouted. I turned and raised my shield just in time to catch a blow from the Orc's battleaxe. The impact seemed to make all of my bones rattle and I almost fell over. He drew back and swung at me again, but he was slow and I just barely managed to stumble out of the way.

I tried a counterstrike, but he swung his axe up horizontally and blocked my blow with the pole, then swung the axe head into my side before I could recover. It didn't have enough force behind it to cut me, but I knew I'd be badly bruised later.

The Orc was much stronger than my previous opponents. While his lack of speed meant his attacks weren't too hard to dodge, those that connected were substantial. I misjudged a few strikes and received two solid blows to the ribs and another jarring strike to my shield-arm. I began to stumble and realized I needed to heal myself soon, but I could still hear Lydia and Lokir fighting off to my right, so I couldn't call on them for help.

I tried striking at the Orc's legs, then his side, but he deflected my blows with his axe pole. I took a risk and tried striking at him with a bold vertical blow. As I had hoped, he held the pole horizontally to block it again, and this time I swung my shield forward and bashed it into his fingers where they gripped the pole. He screamed and lost his grip on that side of the axe, and it gave me an opening to his head and torso. I took it and cut him down before he could recover.

With my opponent dead, I turned my attention back to the others. Lokir and Lydia both had the upper hand against their opponents and didn't need my help, so I wearily leaned back against the cavern wall and slid to the floor. Once there, I focused on healing my wounds while keeping an eye on my companions.

Lydia dispatched her opponent first, then helped Lokir with his. They finished their battles in much better shape than I did, but then, unlike me, they each had more than a few days of experience. They came over and each took one of my hands and helped me to my feet.

"It looks like that Orc was almost a match for you," Lydia observed. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it."

"Good trick with the shield," Lokir said, clapping me on the shoulder. "I'll have to remember that."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure that wasn't a dirty move," I admitted.

"Hey, you're alive and he won't be preying on anymore innocent travelers," Lokir said dismissively. "That's all that matters."

"If you say so," I muttered. Now that the heat and excitement of battle was over, I was starting to feel uneasy with my victory. But I put it out of my head and turned my attention to looting the corpses and cave.

We put all the loot in a pile in the middle of the cavern. Lokir went through it and said, "We definitely have enough now to get two horses, but we'll still have a ways to go before we can afford the house."

I frowned. "Come to think of it, there were only two horses at the stables but there are three of us…"

"Oh, I don't need a horse," Lydia said quickly. "I've spent my life walking and I'll be quite capable of keeping up with you two when you're on horseback."

"Are you sure? I thought horses were fast."

"Maybe the ones from Cyrodiil, but not the ones here in Skyrim," Lokir said. "They're bred for strength and surefootedness, not speed. They can barely outrun a jogging man."

"Okay, if you're sure," I sighed. I started returning the loot to my knapsack. "So let's go sell this stuff and buy those horses, and then we can see if the Companions have any work for us."

* * *

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson, "They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha! Haa!" by Napoleon's Ghost, "Just A Job To Do" by Genesis,

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I hate Cicero's voice.

I also hate that I had to bring up the issue of romance, but they needed to get it out of the way. This story is not a romance. While I like well-written romantic subplots, I wanted to write a story about a man and woman being adventure buddies but not being attracted to each other.


	6. Dustman's Cairn

**VI: Dustman's Cairn**

We had wearily trudged up the stairs in Whiterun after stopping to sell our loot and buy horses. At the landing with the dead tree, we turned right, climbing another short set of steps to the Companions' mead hall, Jorvaskr. It was an odd building, circular, reminding me of the Telvaani towers I had read about in my distant grandmother's journals, but there the resemblance stopped. It was only two stories high, not really a tower. Inside, there was only a single high-ceiling room with feasting tables places around three sides of a long central firepit, with a staircase off to one side leading down to the underground sleeping quarters.

We found two members engaged in an energetic fistfight in the middle of the room, with everyone else cheering them on. It wasn't what I had expected from an honorable brotherhood of warriors, but most of my expectations came from the Nerevarine's tales from old Morrowind.

While there were a couple non-Nord members, I had still been met with a mixed reception. But their leader, Kodlak, allowed us to join. Lydia had decided not to, apparently not approving of mercenaries.

They had given us a few missions to fetch items for various members, making me wonder if they even took us seriously, but then they had sent us on a mission to clear out a place called Serpent's Bluff Redoubt, so we had happily set out on our journey.

Lokir had known right where it was, as it was just a little ways west of his hometown of Rorikstead. He had insisted on giving the settlement a wide berth, so obviously he wasn't ready to see his old home again. We had attacked the place at night, and it had given us little trouble. After resting, we headed back to Whiterun.

It had been years since I'd ridden a horse, but I had a bit of experience from playing with the horses at the farms my caravan had stopped at in Cyrodiil. The two deep brown mares we had purchased were very calm and easy to handle. Lydia was stubbornly walking behind us, but she had been right about the horses not being particularly fast.

I watched Whiterun grow larger as we approached. "One more raid ought to do it," I observed absently. "Then we can have our own house and won't have to sleep in the barracks anymore."

"Yeah, I hate the beds in the barracks," Lokir said, rubbing his back for effect. "It would also be nice to have a rendezvous point, in case we need to split up at some point."

"I hadn't really thought about that. I just always imagined us sticking together."

"I'm not planning on running off," Lokir assured me. "We'd probably both get ourselves killed if we tried to fight bandits alone. But I was just wondering if the Greybeards let outsiders visit."

"Yeah, sounds like they hardly let anyone in to start with…"

A sudden roar in the distance interrupted us. It echoed strangely off the mountains and made the horses start fidgeting. We started scanning the skies and soon saw a dragon flying over the fields in the distance. It seemed to be circling one of the farms east of Whiterun.

"By the Eight, not another," Lokir moaned.

"Just stay on my left this time," I suggested, then nudged my horse into a faster trot.

Lokir soon caught up with me. "I'll never have the courage to fight a dragon again if I don't face it," he muttered.

Hitting a flying dragon was nothing like hunting elk. I wasn't used to aiming at prey above me. Doing so on horseback was out of the question right now, so I stopped my horse as we neared the area the dragon was circling. I leaped off the horse and she immediately turned around and ran away.

"Hey, come back!" I called, knowing she wouldn't listen.

"Bigger things to worry about," Lokir called as he pulled his horse to a stop beside me. As soon as he dismounted, his horse ran away too.

Several Whiterun guards were already present, firing arrows at the dragon. Lokir and I joined them, firing at the dragon's belly as it flew over us. It landed on the nearby farmhouse, providing us with a better target, and I fired arrows into it as fast as I could, sidestepping quickly as it turned its fiery breath in my direction.

The dragon leaped from the farmhouse and took off in the air, circling the farm once more, then it landed heavily as the first dragon we fought had, and we charged at it, exchanging our bows for melee weapons.

"On my left," I reminded Lokir.

"Gotcha," he responded.

I circled around to the dragon's right side so Lokir would be away from its head. I hit it in the side of the neck with my sword, and it turned to face me and breathed fire.

It was like standing inside an oven. The heat was almost unreal. I found myself recoiling and backing away, but I knew I had to stand my ground. Fighting the urge to turn and run, I braced myself against the onslaught and forced my way forward.

Suddenly the dragon roared and jerked its head up, ending the fiery breath attack. Through the haze, I saw that Lokir had struck it in the neck. He attacked again before the dragon had recovered, plunging his sword into the base of the dragon's neck, aimed down into its chest.

The dragon's body convulsed, rearing partway up before falling heavily to the ground. Its head thudded down right in front of me, in range of my sword, but I could see it would not be necessary. The strange flames were beginning to form along its back. In a matter of seconds, they consumed everything but its bones, and I felt the energy rushing into me again.

I walked over to Lokir and clapped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, that wasn't too hard," he said thoughtfully. "So it looks like you don't have to be the one to deal the deathblow in order to absorb the dragon's soul."

"Maybe I just have to be standing close enough…"

"You're the Dragonborn!" one of the soldiers called. "Aren't you supposed to be meeting the Greybeards?"

I sighed in exasperation. "Look, it's on my to-do list, but it's not at the top. I'm working my way down to it."

The soldier absently kicked one of the dragon's leg bones. "You know, I heard they used to make the strongest armor and weapons out of dragon bones and scales. Legend says the thigh bones were the most desirable. You ought to see if the blacksmiths know about it. I bet they'd pay good money for them."

"Too bad all the scales burned away," I sighed.

"No, look, the belly scales are still there on the ground."

Lokir and I set to work harvesting the scales and femurs. As we finished up and turned away from the skeleton, we heard Lydia approaching, leading our two horses.

"This is another reason I don't like horses," she called. "You always have to run them down after a fight."

I sighed and came forward to take my horse's bridle. "Thanks for fetching them, but we could have used your help with the dragon."

"I had faith in you," she said in a tone that didn't sound sincere.

"Too bad you can't stay," the Whiterun soldier said. "It would be nice to have you around to help with the dragons. I wanted a little excitement around here, but this is too much. I'd rather face bandits or vampires."

"We'll probably be hanging around here when we take breaks," Lokir said. "But I agree with you. I'd much rather fight vampires." He gritted his teeth. "They killed my parents and left me homeless. I'd like to personally see their numbers reduced."

"I heard they're reforming the Dawnguard. You should see if they'd let you join."

"The Dawnguard? What's that?" I asked.

"Vampire hunters. I hear they're setting themselves up in the old fort east of Riften. Might see if I can be transferred there."

"Yes, we'll check that out when we're in the area," Lokir said. He seemed excited by the prospect.

"Okay, once we've procured Breezehome and I've spoken with the Greybeards, we can check out this Dawnguard," I said.

"We might have enough to buy it now, if those bones and scales are worth anything," Lydia said as we headed back to Whiterun.

* * *

"Are you Proventus Avenicci?" I asked the man we found seated at a desk in the room behind the jarl's throne, sorting documents.

"Yes. I'm the jarl's steward," he replied. "What can I do for you?"

"We're interested in purchasing Breezehome."

"Ah, yes. That's a very nice little house. Three bedrooms. Perfect for raising a family… or…" he faltered, looking us over.

I sighed. "We're going to provide a home for the little orphan girl Lucia, and we need someplace to store things we don't want to sell. Beyond that is none of your business. 5,000 septims, right?"

"Yes, let me get your deed," he said, moving to a chest against the wall as we took out our coin purses and spent a few minutes counting out coins.

He handed me a quill and inkpot and showed me where to sign the document. After reading it over, I signed my name, _Ra'wati Indoril,_ and passed the quill to Lokir.

Lokir paused when he looked at my name. "Indoril? You're a descendant of the Nerevarine?"

"Yes. Haven't I mentioned that?" After she dealt with Dagoth Ur and the Tribunal, grandmother Ma'hini had decided that if she was supposed to be the reincarnation of Indoril Nerevar, she was going to claim his family name for herself and her children, since she had none of her own and knew nothing of her parents.

"I don't think so." He scrawled his name under mine.

I shrugged. "It hasn't done me much good. All we have to show for it is her journals. We never could bring ourselves to sell those. I need to go back to my cave soon and get them." I leaned over his shoulder, curious what his family name was.

_Lokir Thorkelson._

"Thorkelson," I said, starting to giggle.

He frowned at me. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know, I…" I started giggling harder. "I'm sorry, it just sounds funny…"

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess it does," he said grudgingly, still giving me a reproachful look.

Proventus took our pile of gold and put it in the chest. He took out a pair of keys and laid them on the table. "Here's the key to your new home. Now do you want to purchase furnishings for your new home?"

"It doesn't come with furniture?" I asked.

Proventus shrugged. "The previous owners cleaned it out, but we can sell you replacement furniture."

He laid out what we could purchase and how much it would cost: 300 septims for the kitchen, 250 for the dining room, 250 for the living room, 300 for the master bedroom, 200 for a smaller bedroom, 500 for a bedroom for two children.

I groaned. "We don't have that much left over. I had hoped we could get Lucia off the streets tonight…"

"The Companions might have something else for us to do," Lydia suggested.

Proventus sighed. "I wouldn't normally do this, but if it's for the welfare of a child… I can, just this once, authorize a loan for you so you can buy the furniture now. You seem to be doing well with your raids, so I'm confident you can have it paid back soon."

"Oh." I glanced at Lokir, who nodded. "Okay. We definitely need the child's room."

"And the kitchen," Lokir said. "It'll keep the house warm. Everything else could wait until we return."

"I'll see to it at once," Proventus said.

We thanked him and made our way out of Dragonsreach and down the stairs to Jorvaskr. We found one of the Companions, Farkas, out back in the practice yard with one of the higher-ranking Companions, Skjor. Farkas had given us the mission to clear out Serpent's Bluff Redoubt.

"We've cleared out Serpent's Bluff Redoubt," Lokir announced.

Farkas shrugged. "Already heard. The guy who asked for it seems pleased with your work. Here's your reward." He handed us each 50 septims.

"Do you have anymore work for us?" Lokir asked.

"I do," Skjor said. "You've proven you can take out petty bandits, so I think you're ready for your Trial, your chance to prove yourselves to us. We've heard of a location that may hold a shard of Wuuthrad, and we need you to retrieve it."

"What's Wuuthrad?" I asked.

"It was the blade of Ysgramor, founder of the Companions. He used it to drive the elves out of the land, though he could have done a better job. I want you to go with Farkas and investigate."

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"Dustman's Cairn," Farkas said. "It's an old Nord burial mound northwest of here."

"So that means more draugr, I guess," I said.

"This land is crawling with draugr," Farkas said with a nod. He looked our group over. "I prefer stealth missions. I can't bring all three of you with me. It would make too much noise."

Lokir and I looked at each other. "But we're both being tested, right?"

"I can stay here," Lydia offered. "I can be getting the house set up while you're away."

Farkas sighed. "I'd prefer only one follower, but I'll take both of you. Just try not to make too much noise. Meet me at Dustman's Cairn at dusk." He showed us where it was on the map and walked away.

We headed back down the stairs. Lucia was seated on a bench under the dead tree again. "You're the best!" she called when she saw us. "Can you be my parents?"

Lokir and I side-eyed each other briefly. "Ah, that's sort of what we're here for," I said, stepping forward. "How would you like it if we adopted you?"

"Really?" she asked. "Are… are you sure? Do you have a place for me to live?"

"We just bought the house across from Warmaiden's," Lokir said. "It's not furnished yet, but it should be ready by tonight."

"Oh, thank you! Thanks so much… Mama and Papa."

* * *

We had a few hours to rest and supervise the installation of the new furnishings, and explain to Lucia that Lokir and I weren't a couple but she could still call us her parents, but we soon had to take our leave and make the short journey northwest to Dustman's Cairn. We left Lydia at Breezehome with Lucia, who was overjoyed at having her own bed again after months of sleeping on the ground, and being able to have a hot meal without having to work for it.

Farkas was waiting for us when we arrived. He was standing beside a large circular hole in the ground. There were decorative stone pillars ringing the outer rim, and a stone staircase built into the sides, spiraling down to the tiled bottom.

"You're a bit early," he observed.

"Might as well get this over," I said. "For the first time in my life, I have an actual bed of my own and an actual house instead of a tent and a bedroll. I'd like to get back and see how it feels."

He nodded. "Follow me and try not to make too much noise. We may not be the only ones exploring this cairn. Others may have heard about the shard of Wuuthrad."

I hopped down from my horse's back and looked around. "Do you think they'll be okay here?" I asked Lokir.

He scanned the surrounding field and the mountains north of us warily. There were giants and mammoths in the distance, but nothing nearby. "It looks quiet. We should be able to just leave them here. They won't run off unless they're attacked."

I patted my horse's shoulder nervously, offered each of them an apple out of my pack, and headed down the spiral stairs after Farkas.

We went through the ornate metal double doors to the tomb and down a stairway carved out of the rock. Inside it was very similar in structure to Bleak Falls Barrow, carved out of the rock. We came to a room with several upright stone coffins around the sides, all of them broken open, with dead draugr sprawled on the floor in front of them.

"Looks like someone's been here recently," Farkas observed with a sigh. "They might still be here. Be on your guard."

We crouched down and slunk through the room and down a set of stairs. Up ahead, I could see a dead draugr on the floor of the next room, but I could hear the rasping breath of live drougr nearby.

I almost groaned when I realized the next room was a large burial chamber, but I managed to stay quiet. This one had rows of burial niches along the walls, and it also had central pillars with niches for upright draugr to rest. The draugr who had been in these upright niches had awoken and were patrolling the room.

I heard one of them approaching. He walked into view and turned his back to us. I aimed and fired, taking him down with one arrow. I heard snarls from either side of the room, and three draugr appeared. I aimed for the first one and fired two arrows into him as he came at us with his war axe raised. Farkas darted in front of me and cut the wounded draugr down with one blow, and I took the opportunity to draw my sword. Lokir and Farkas each went after one of the remaining draugr. The tunnel was narrow, so I hung back and watched until Lokir's opponent backed him in my direction. The draugr made a bold swing at him, which he ducked, and I lunged forward and hacked the draugr across the face, finishing him off.

I heard Farkas cut his opponent down in the next room, so I relaxed and knelt to check the draugr for loot.

We continued down the tunnel and into another room with more dead draugr on the floor. I walked over to a bookshelf and picked up a wicked-looking dagger with a long curved blade made of a piece of flat, corkscrewing metal. "This doesn't look like it would be much good in battle."

"Yeah, I don't think those were weapons, exactly," Farkas said. "They have something to do with the ceremony that produces draugr, I've heard. I don't really know. Sometimes you find them in torture chambers."

My stomach churned and I quickly set the blade down.

We turned right and emerged into a large round room. A set of stairs led to a lower level. There were several alcoves carved into the walls here, bookshelves, an Arcane Enchanter, and two stone thrones set at one end of the room. There was a heavy barred metal gate in front of the only other way out of the room. On the other side, too far away to reach, was a lever for raising the gate.

"There should be a switch around here to raise it," Farkas said. "The old Nords always left a switch on either side of a gate like this."

I walked over to the gate and noticed an alcove to the left with a few healing potions on a table. Lokir and I walked into the room and noticed a lever set prominently into the wall.

"That seems a little obvious," I said warily.

"They didn't always hide the switches," Farkas said dismissively. "Go ahead and pull it."

I pulled the switch. I heard the gate in the main room raising, as another gate crashed down in front of the alcove, trapping Lokir and me inside.

I looked up at the new gate for a moment, over at Lokir, then down at my feet. "Well, I feel stupid now."

"Just sit tight," Farkas said. "I'll be right back…"

Five figures suddenly charged through the gate with weapons drawn, surrounding Farkas. He backed up against the gate. "We knew you'd be coming here," one of them said. "Time to die, dog."

"Killing you will make for an excellent story," another said.

Farkas snorted. "Too bad none of you will be alive to tell it."

He started to crouch, and his whole body began shifting and wavering. His arms grew much longer and sprouted claws, his whole body enlarged and he sprouted a canine tail. His clothing and armor were replaced by dark brown fur. In a matter of seconds, he had shifted into a huge bipedal wolf, at least seven feet tall.

The newcomers attacked him, but he fought with his huge hands and claws, taking each of them down with a single mighty blow. In a matter of seconds, they were all dead. The wolf loped into the next room, and a few seconds later, the gate locking us in was raised. Farkas strolled back in the room in human form.

I backed up a step as he approached, glad I still had my sword in my hand.

"Hope I didn't scare you," he said casually. "You coming or not?"

"What was that?" Lokir asked warily, not moving forward.

Farkas shrugged. "A gift given to some of us."

"So… are you planning to turn us into werewolves?" I asked.

"No. Only the Circle, the highest-ranking Companions, are given the beast blood. You have to prove yourselves first."

Lokir and I glanced at each other warily.

"I know what you've probably heard about werewolves. Not everyone can handle the beast blood, just like not everyone can handle mead. Some of them lose control, and it gives the rest of us a bad name. People would attack us if they knew, so we can't come forward and clear our names. I assure you I'm in complete control, and I can only shift once a day."

"Oh. Okay." Still wary, we followed Farkas out of the alcove. We stopped briefly to loot the corpses.

"Who were they?" I asked as I nudged one of the corpses with my foot.

"They call themselves the Silver Hand. They're a group dedicated to eradicating werewolves. They don't believe it's possible for a werewolf to be good."

Since they were members of a werewolf-hunting organization, they were armed with silver swords, which were more valuable than steel blades, so we collected them before following Farkas past the first gate. It was still raised. I had expected it to be lowered by the second lever, but I had no idea how this ancient technology worked, so I put it out of my head.

The cairn was very long and meandering, even more so than Bleak Falls Barrow. We occasionally ran across a few draugr, either sleeping in their niches or pacing the rooms restlessly, and a few more Silver Hand members, but nothing particularly difficult to deal with.

Along the way, after breaking quite a few lockpicks, I opened a master-level chest. Inside we found a dwarven sword and war axe. They were better than our current weapons, so I took the sword and Lokir took the axe.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we came upon another set of ornate metal doors. But this set was different.

"The chanting," I said softly. "I can hear chanting again."

"What chanting?" Farkas asked, looking at me warily.

"You know they say I'm the Dragonborn. In Bleak Falls Barrow, we found a stone wall with ancient runes carved into it. I heard voices chanting as I approached, and I learned how to use the Voice from it. It was in the very last room of the barrow. So that might be our destination through those doors."

Farkas nodded and led the way through the doors.

The room ahead was large and long. On either side of us, three upright coffins lined each wall. Past them, the room more than doubled in width. Steps were carved into the rock, leading to a stone table in the middle. A further eight coffins ringed this part of the room, with a ninth horizontal coffin on the floor right below the last few steps leading to the table. A set of wooden steps led up to a second level carved into the wall on the left. It looked like there were more coffins up there.

Behind the table, the wall bowed in a semicircle, with runes carved along the curved surface. It was another Word Wall.

I turned in a slow circle, counting the coffins. "I don't like this."

"I don't hear any breathing," Lokir said.

"Remember what happened last time you relied on the sound of them breathing?" I sighed.

"Draugr are easy to deal with," Farkas said. He waved at the far end of the room. "So that thing behind the table, that's a Word Wall?"

"Yes, definitely," I said, focusing on it instead of all the coffins.

"You first, then," he said.

I eyed the coffins warily, but I heard no movements as I walked up the carved steps. There were a few soul gems and potions on the table, as well as a shard of metal on some short flat pedestal, but I ignored those, walking around the table to the wall behind it. Everything seemed to go dark and the wind rose up again as I absorbed the knowledge from the wall.

I thought back to the first time I had used the Voice. Absorbing the dragon's soul had awakened the knowledge of the Shout in my mind. I thought about the other dragon we had fought, concentrating on the power I could still feel from its soul. Slowly that power changed into the knowledge of what I had just learned from the wall.

"_Yol,_" I said softly. "It's a fire spell."

"Fire spells are always handy," Lokir said from behind me. I turned to see him looking at the blade shard apprehensively. "That thing it's resting on… Is that a pressure plate?"

"Doesn't really matter. That's what we came here for." Farkas walked up to the table and picked up the piece of metal.

There was a grating sound from the plate it rested on, but after that, silence. I slowly let my breath out.

Farkas put the shard in his pack. "Come on, let's get back to Jorvaskr…"

He was interrupted by the crunch of stone breaking as three of the coffins burst open.

"I should have known," he snarled. He drew his sword and ran down the stairs to meet the approaching draugr.

"Hey, wouldn't it be safer up here?" I called. At least they couldn't get behind us.

"Use the silver blades!" Farkas called back. "Silver is especially good against undead!"

Lokir and I quickly drew silver swords from our packs and stood on either side of the alcove with the stone table in front of us. Farkas had begun fighting with one of the draugr, while the other two came for us. I focused on the one who came for me, blocking his first attack with my shield and delivering a lethal strike to his chest as he drew his weapon back again. Lokir and Farkas finished off the other two just as quickly.

I glanced around the room and was opening my mouth to comment on how anticlimactic that was, when more coffins cracked open. Another draugr Overlord emerged from the horizontal coffin between us and Farkas, while four more regular draugr came out of the walls.

The Overlord went for Farkas, while the others came for us. Lokir and I stayed in the alcove, blocking and striking as the draugr advanced. Two of them came at us straight on, while the other two climbed over the table and got between us, so we each had a draugr on both sides. I tried to attack the one on my right while blocking the one on the left, but my vision was too limited on the left, and he got past my shield, hitting me in the ribs. I gasped in pain and stumbled, letting myself fall to the floor. Once there, I quickly struck the left one's shins, knocking him to the floor. I spun back and just barely blocked the other draugr with my shield, then turned back and stabbed the fallen draugr's neck. He stopped moving. The other one struck at me again and I rolled out of his reach, leaping to my feet behind one of Lokir's opponents and stabbing him in the back of the neck. He also went down.

The excitement was rising in me, but it was dulled somewhat by the sound of more coffins opening. I ignored them as I turned back to my other opponent, determined to worry about them when they were close enough to attack me.

Pain suddenly exploded in my side as I was struck by an arrow. I glanced over to the second level on the left of the room and saw a pair of draugr armed with bows, but I had no time to pull out my own bow and take them down. "Archers!" I shouted at Lokir, and he looked my way just in time to see the threat and duck an incoming arrow.

I heard Farkas cry in pain and heard a thud as he collapsed to the floor. I looked past my opponent to see the draugr Overlord turning away from Farkas and coming toward us. Farkas was sprawled on the floor, but I could see him panting heavily.

I saw Farkas' hands start to glow as he began healing himself. The Overlord started to turn back to him. Lokir ducked, picked up an axe from a fallen draugr, and threw it at the Overlord's back. It struck him handle-first, not causing any real damage, but it accomplished the intended purpose of drawing the Overlord's attention off of Farkas. It snarled and came running up the stairs, leaped on top of the stone table, and used its Voice on us, knocking us over. It jumped down to the floor in between us, joined by three other draugr.

I rolled away as it brought its battleaxe down where my legs had just been. I had to back out of the alcove to escape it, finding myself out in the open, surrounded by draugr.

More coffins cracked open behind me.

I had found the best way to fight draugr was to block their initial blow and strike as they were recovering. I crouched, waiting for the ones in front of me to arrive while listening for any coming from behind. I blocked the first one and struck him down, but as I did, another arrow struck me in the back. I lost my balance and fell to the floor.

I quickly forced myself up to my knees and slashed the draugr in front of me across the belly. He collapsed, but as I was regaining my balance to stand, I was struck from behind by another draugr. I fell down again and tried to roll out of the way, finding myself tumbling painfully down the stone steps.

I came to a rest against Farkas, who had pulled himself up into a crouch and was drawing his bow. "Get the archers," I panted, forcing myself to my hands and knees.

Six draugr advanced on us. Lokir was still holding his own against the Overlord, having dispatched the other weaker draugr he had been fighting.

_Let's see what this does_, I thought. I focused on the advancing draugr and shouted, "_YOL!_"

A ball of fire shot from my mouth, striking the draugr in the front and setting him on fire, then spreading to the draugr beside them. Within seconds, four of them fell down dead. The other two stumbled, still burning.

I heard Farkas firing arrows behind me. He struck one of the burning draugr with the first arrow, finishing it off, then rapidly fired two at one of the draugr archers, killing it. I left him to finish off the other archer and stumbled to my feet to face the last burning draugr. It was badly wounded by the flames and was easy to kill.

_Just the Overlord now,_ I thought, then heard more coffins cracking open.

Only two emerged this time. My head was spinning from the pain and blood loss, overpowering the excitement, but I couldn't rest yet. I crouched down, set my sword on the ground and grabbed my bow. Farkas and I hit them with several arrows as they charged at us. At the last second, I dropped my bow and grabbed my sword, lunging forward under the oncoming draugr's blade and impaling him. My momentum carried me to the floor in a heap, where I lay panting for a few seconds, listening to Farkas dispatch his draugr.

_One left,_ I reminded myself wearily, sure I wouldn't be able to force myself to my feet after this. I rose and stumbled back toward the stone table, where Lokir was still wearily fighting the wounded Overlord. I wasn't sure which of them looked to be in worse shape.

"Down!" I shouted to Lokir. He dropped without question, and I quickly shouted, "_FUS!_"

The wave of force hit the Overlord and threw him back against the Word Wall head-first. He cracked his skull against the stone wall, bounced off, landed on the floor and didn't move again.

I flopped to the ground and put my fingers around the arrow in my side, wondering if I still had the strength to pull it out.

"Let me get that for you," Farkas said. I gratefully relaxed while he pulled the arrows out and healed me. But first I looked over to make sure Lokir was still able to heal himself.

"That was unreal," Lokir said wearily, leaning back against the stone table.

"This might be the closest I've ever come to dying," I said weakly.

"Yeah, never thought wimpy draugr would be the ones to take me out," Farkas grumbled.

"That had to be more than twenty draugr, but there aren't that many coffins in here," I panted. "That's cheating."

Lokir rose to his feet. "Hey, at least they all carry a few coins."

"Go ahead and loot them if you want. I need a couple more minutes to rest." I looked up at Farkas. "So, did we pass?"

"Yeah, you passed," he said gruffly.

* * *

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Burn" by Papa Roach, "Unity" by Shinedown, "Whisper" by Evanescence, "This Is Gonna Hurt" by Sixx:A.M., "Get Thru This" by Art of Dying, "Pain Redefined" by Disturbed,

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I only counted 16 draugr corpses in the end of Dustman's Cairn, but I've increased that number here because the plot requires Ra'wati to be burned out on fighting draugr for a little while.

I decided dragon femurs make the best armor and weapons so it would make sense to only get 45 pounds of bone off a huge skeleton. They should be long and thick enough to yield armor plates, long blades, axe heads and such. Also I decided the belly scales are toughest as a tribute to Smaug.


	7. Inside the Circle

**VII: Inside The Circle**

I was almost too tired to stand when we finally made it back to Jorvaskr. All the other Companions were gathered in the practice yard. They formed a semicircle around us and Farkas told them what had happened, then they started into some sort of ceremony. I remember them reciting some ritual lines, asking Farkas if he would raise his mug to me and fight by my side, but I was too exhausted to pay attention.

The shops were closed, so we went straight to Breezehome, where we found Lucia sleeping in one bed in the child's room and Lydia squeezed into the other. We went upstairs, where we had brought a pile of straw in until we could purchase beds, and I collapsed without taking my armor off.

We were awakened the next morning by someone knocking heavily on the door. Lydia was already up cooking, so she answered the door.

She let Farkas in. He watched me and Lokir stumble down the stairs, smirking at our disheveled appearance. "You two sure don't look like warriors right now."

I growled softly, while Lokir asked, "What are you here for?"

"Kodlak has one more thing he wants from you. You looked dead on your feet last night, or he would have brought it up then."

"When does he want to see us?" I asked. "I really need to go see the Greybeards, now that we've bought this house."

"He needs you to come at night."

I sighed. "Eh, I guess I could use a day to recuperate. We can go see the Greybeards tomorrow."

"Great. Meet him inside Jorvaskr after dark."

Lydia had made us potato soup for breakfast. We called Lucia out to the dining room and sat down on the floor to eat, not having any chairs yet.

"We should be able to finish furnishing this place once we sell our loot," Lokir said. "Those silver weapons should fetch a good price."

"Lucia, were you the only homeless child around here?" I asked.

"Yes, Mama," she said. "Everyone else in the city still has at least one of their parents."

"I'm sure you'll find other orphans in the other hold capitals," Lydia said. "Or there's always the orphanage in Riften, if you want to fill the spare bed."

"It's not filling the bed I'm concerned with, it's giving an orphan somewhere to live. And Lucia could use someone to keep her company when we're not around."

"What about you two?" Lucia asked. "Are you two going to have any kids?"

I almost choked on my soup. As an only child growing up on the road, I had never learned how tactless small children can be.

"Not _together,_" Lokir said. "Even if I had my eye on a woman, I couldn't properly court her while I'm spending every other day running off to kill bandits."

"There aren't many Khajiit around, and none that have caught my eye," I said. "Besides, if a pregnant woman is struck in the belly, it can kill the baby. I can't risk having children until I've gotten myself settled and don't have to fight to support myself anymore. Someday I might have my own shop."

"Yeah, we both need to make our fortunes and settle down first."

"But for now, we have room to take in another orphan, so you'll have someone to play with soon."

"It's okay, Mama," Lucia said. "I like playing with Lars. But Braith is a big meanie. She likes telling us what to do."

"You need to learn how to stand up for yourself," Lokir observed. I had a feeling he'd be giving her a lesson in assertiveness soon.

"So, you're finally heading to the Greybeards tomorrow," Lydia said. "We need to figure out how we're doing that."

"Is the mountain too steep for the horses to climb?" I asked.

"Likely," Lydia said. "And the mountains surrounding it on the south and east are also too much for the horses. I think your best bet would be to follow the road. It goes east from here, past the Throat of the World a good ways, then swings south through a gap in the mountains and comes back west to a settlement called Ivarstead at the eastern foot of the mountain. The path up the mountain starts right outside Ivarstead. It's almost impossible to climb anywhere else."

"Would the cart take us there?"

"No, the carts only take you to the hold capitals," Lokir said. "Markarth, Solitude, Whiterun, Morthal, Winterhold, Windhelm, Falkreath, Dawnstar and Riften. I don't think any of them are any closer to Ivarstead than we are now." He pulled out his map and showed me the relevant sites.

"Do you need me to come along?" Lydia asked.

I looked from her to Lucia. "It would be nice to have you until I can determine how common dragon and bandit encounters are going to be, but…"

"It's okay, I've been on my own for months," Lucia interrupted. "I'll be fine until you get back."

"Okay," Lokir said. "We'll leave you some coins to buy food so you won't have to worry about cooking. Just remember to call the guards if you hear anything. They're always patrolling outside."

"How long do you think you'll be gone?" Lucia asked.

"No telling, but I'd estimate three days," Lokir said. "Depends on how long the Greybeards need to talk to Ra'wati and if they send her on a quest to prove herself."

"The Companions didn't say when they wanted to see us, just after dark," I said. "We could go there shortly before dawn and plan on leaving after that. They might have an errand they expect us to run."

"You want to travel in the dark?" Lydia asked.

"I can see in the dark," I said haughtily. Possibly the only advantage to being a Khajiit in Skyrim.

"Okay, I'll be sure the horses are ready. I'll wait with them while you're visiting the Companions."

"It should be about time for the shops to open," Lokir said. "Though I suppose there's no hurry. We don't have much to do today."

"We'll think of something to pass the time," I said.

* * *

I closed my eye briefly and took a few deep breaths, blocking out the noise of the city around me. I raised my bow, drew back an arrow, and nodded at Farkas. He tossed a red apple into the air.

_It's a pheasant, _I told myself, drawing on it and firing. I smiled and held my head up confidently as Farkas went to fetch the apple with my arrow impaling it.

It was a little off to one side, but I didn't care. "Well? Still doubt my vision?" I asked Aela the Huntress, a Nord woman who I had overheard expressing doubt about the wisdom of taking a one-eyed Khajiit into battle.

"All right, you've proven your point," she grumbled, kicking one of the half-dozen other apples I had shot out of the air.

I laughed. "That's nothing. I bet I can hit an apple twice that far away…"

"Tag! You're it!" Lucia shouted as she ran by, slapping me on the back.

I flinched and growled involuntarily. Couldn't she see I was busy showing off my archery skills?

Aela and Kodlak exchanged a glance and Aela nodded slightly. Kodlak cleared his throat. "You've done enough for now. Go attend to your familial duties."

I headed back around Jorvaskr and looked out over the city. The sun had only just reached its zenith. Once our loot was sold, we had enough to finish furnishing the house, but now that it was finished, we had nothing pressing to do. Playing tag seemed as good a way to kill time as any.

I saw Lucia's friend Lars dart out from behind the temple of Kynareth across from me. He was looking around warily for the other children, but I was betting he didn't know I had been recruited. I casually strolled down the stairs from Jorvaskr and acted like I didn't see him.

As I had hoped, he dismissed me, so it was easy to sneak up behind him. "Tag!" I said as I tapped him on the shoulder and took off running.

I darted up the stairs to Dragonsreach, wondering if the jarl would be unhappy about me tearing through the halls, or if his children might want to come outside and get some fresh air and socialization. At the top of the stairs I saw Eorland Greymane, who was a legendary blacksmith and worked an ancient magical forge called the Skyforge behind Jorvaskr. He seemed to be waving at me, so I slowed down as I approached.

"Good morning," I said politely.

"Good morning, Ra'wati," he responded. "You seem to have time on your hands."

I shrugged. "Just taking a break. I haven't had a break since I got here and I have a long journey planned for tomorrow."

He nodded. "I wonder if you might be willing to do a small errand for me? Retrieve something that was stolen from my family?"

"Depends on what you have in mind…"

"Tag!" Lars said, slapping me on the back before running back down the stairs.

"Hey, no fair!" I called, turning around and almost running after him before I remembered Eorland. I turned back and said sheepishly, "That boy is sneaky."

Eorland nodded. "Have you met my wife Fralia?"

"No, but I've seen her around."

He pointed to a house beside the temple of Kynareth. "That house with the cow in the yard is ours. Fralia tends a stall down the stairs, but she's taking a break right now. Go there and tell her I sent you. She'll tell you what to do."

I headed down the stairs, wondering why he hadn't told me what he wanted. This seemed shady…

Lydia and Lokir were casually walking up the stairs. I headed over to them. "Lydia, can you do me a favor?" I asked.

"Certainly, thane," she said in her moderately disrespectful tone.

I reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. "Tag. You're it. Go entertain the children."

She gave me a level stare. "You're the closest target. I could just tag you back."

"If you do, we'll be here all day."

She shrugged and turned away. I watched her take off after the nearest child, then turned to Lokir. "Eorland Greymane wants us to ask his wife about an errand."

He followed me over to the house Eorland had indicated. I heard conversation from within, but it became hushed when I knocked on the door. After a moment, an older Nord lady answered the door. "Yes?" she asked.

"Your husband said you had an errand for me," I said.

She looked around nervously. "Yes, come in," she said in a hushed voice.

Inside, she led us over to the dining table. "Please, have a seat," she said, then turned to a staircase leading down into the basement and called, "Avulstein, we have a visitor!"

"Mother, what are you doing?" an angry man called from behind a closed door. He kicked the door open and entered the room wielding a battleaxe. "How do you know they're not with the Imperials?"

"Avulstein, put that away!" she snapped. "Your father thinks they can be trusted!"

He growled, but lowered the axe.

I kept my hand on the hilt of my sword and noticed Lokir did the same with his axe. "What's going on here?" I asked warily. "Eorland said you wanted us to help with something that had been stolen from your family."

"Yes," Avulstein growled, "my brother Thorald."

"You brother was stolen?" I asked blankly.

"Maybe you've heard that we Grey-Manes support the Stormcloaks, while the Battle-Borns support the Imperials," Fralia said. "Thorald had been talking of joining up with the Stormcloaks, and the Imperials caught wind of it. He disappeared without a trace. They tell me he's dead, but I didn't believe them. I just… I just sensed it in my heart. If you had children, you'd understand."

"The Battle-Borns always acted like they knew he was still alive," Avulstein said. "Practically taunted us with it. So I broke into their house a couple nights ago and found a letter saying he had been captured by the Thalmor and taken to Northwatch Keep." He shook his head. "Sounded like Idolaf Battle-Born had been asking around about my brother and was being warned to drop the matter. He and my brother used to be best friends."

"Okay, so where do we come in?" Lokir asked.

"Someone needs to go to Northwatch Keep and see if he's still alive," Avulstein said. "I'd do it myself, but I don't want to do it alone. If Father leaves his post, people will notice and get suspicious. And I don't trust anyone else in town. I don't even want them to know I'm here, or they might tell the Thalmor."

_But you're willing to tell complete strangers? _I thought. "So you want us to go there for you?" I asked.

"Or take me with you," he said. "Either way, we need your help."

"How urgent is this?"

He shrugged. "Thorald's been gone for months. A few more days might not make a difference."

I nodded. "Maybe you've heard I'm the Dragonborn. I need to go talk to the Greybeards. That'll take a couple of days. But I'll be happy to go with you to Northwatch Keep after that."

"Oh, thank you! Divines bless you!" Fralia exclaimed.

"Thanks," Avulstein said gruffly. "Until then, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone you saw me here."

* * *

"I still think you'd be better off carrying healing potions instead of cheese," Lokir grumbled as we went through our packs one last time.

"I like cheese," I repeated stubbornly. I slung my pack onto my back, then turned to Lucia. "We'll be home in a few days, but I'm not sure how many. Behave yourself when we're gone, and go to the guards immediately if there's anything wrong."

"Yes, Mama," she said.

We exchanged farewell hugs, then headed outside. Lokir and I turned right to make our way to Jorvaskr, while Lydia headed left, to get the horses ready.

Skjor was waiting for us at one of the tables inside, leaning back and reading a book. He led us back outside and to the stone wall beside Jorvaskr. There was a crude door carved into the rock wall that I hadn't noticed before. He slid the door open and motioned for us to follow him.

Inside was a rough cavern with a broad stone pillar in the center, topped with a large basin. Aela the Huntress was standing behind the one in the middle of the room. As we approached, she transformed into a werewolf.

"It's been a long time since we welcomed new members into the pack," Skjor said casually. "That ceremony outside Jorvaskr was just for show. This is the real initiation."

_Good, I won't sleep through this one, _I thought.

"So you're going to turn us into werewolves now?" Lokir asked. "Farkas said you wouldn't just yet."

"We discussed it and decided you were ready and worthy."

"And you think we can handle it?" I asked.

Skjor nodded. "I believe you are both strong enough to control yourselves as beasts."

He walked over to Aela with a dagger in his hand, held her arm over the basin and slit her wrist. The basin filled with blood.

Lokir and I approached the basin. I glanced over at Lokir. He looked as uneasy as I felt, but not reluctant. Deep down, I realized I wanted this.

I put my hands on the edge of the basin and looked down at its contents. Part of me was repulsed by the realization that I was expected to drink it. But another part of me, that part that lusted for battle, was stirred by the smell of the blood. But this wasn't enough. That part of me wanted more blood, much more…

I winced and pulled back from the basin, equally repulsed by that alien bloodlust. Was that what excited me about battle so much? Was I craving blood? I almost backed away, but I glanced over at Lokir, who nodded reassuringly, so I leaned back over the basin.

I took a deep, quivering breath. _No going back_, I thought as I cupped my hands and reached down into the basin.

* * *

"Can you hear me?" I heard Aela calling, sounding distant.

I slowly realized I was very cold. I felt like I was coming up from a deep sleep. I shook my head vigorously, and came fully awake.

I was kneeling on the ground in the snow, wearing nothing but my underwear. My armor and weapons were strewn around me. We seemed to be outside Whiterun, out in the woods, but I didn't recognize anything. The sun had risen very recently.

With a startled cry, I grabbed my cuirass and pulled it on as quickly as I could. "What just happened?" I asked weakly, pulling on my boots next.

"The first transformation is always the most intense," she said. "I barely remember my own. The next time won't be as bad."

I tried to remember what had happened after we drank from the basin. I remembered feeling free in a way I had never experienced before, and excited, and hungry. I remembered the transformation, highly unpleasant but not really painful, and then the sudden desire to run, to stalk prey, to hunt and bring it down and feed. I felt a faint breeze from a side tunnel I had not noticed before. I took a step forward, and heard Lokir following. Skjor called to us, telling us to wait, but I couldn't. I wanted to hunt. I heard him turning into a werewolf as well, but Lokir and I were already running down the tunnel.

We emerged from the tunnel on a high ledge built under one of the battlements on the city wall. I jumped down and walked out into the open, seeing Battle-Born Farm up ahead. I scanned the area, but saw nothing to hunt. Then I saw a group of elk off in the distance, and took off after them, with Lokir close behind. Lokir and I had chosen different targets, so we split up. I could hear Aela following me, and glanced back to see Skjor chasing after Lokir.

After that, everything got fuzzy, as my senses were overridden with the excitement of the hunt, more intense than what I felt at the prospect of battle. The chase blurred together, until I felt the beast retreating from my mind, felt myself getting weaker…

I shook my head. "That was too intense."

"Each time you change, it will be easier to control," she assured me. She waved at my gear still lying on the ground. "By next year, you'll learn how to shift back without dropping everything like that."

"I had been wondering why this didn't happen to Farkas," I admitted. I rose and surveyed the area. "Where is Lokir?"

"Nearby. Let's go."

She led me through the woods. Soon I heard two men talking in the distance, and saw Lokir and Skjor approaching.

"Is that all you wanted from us?" Lokir asked once we had regrouped.

"For now," Skjor said. "I've heard rumors a group of the Silver Hand has holed up in an old fort called Gallows Rock nearby. We could use your help clearing it out, but we'll have to scout it out first. I know you need to journey to the Greybeards tomorrow, so we'll wait until you get back."

"Where's Lydia?" I asked. "For that matter, where are _we_?"

"Farkas was to instruct her to fetch your horses and come after us if you two made it out of Whiterun," Skjor said. He pointed to a mountain southwest of us. "That there's the Throat of the World. We ran quite a ways last night."

I looked at the mountain dumbly. It had been east of us back in Whiterun. "How far out of the way are we?"

"This is actually the way you would have gone anyway," Aela said. "The pass south through the mountains is just over there to the southeast. Just keep heading that way and Lydia will catch up soon enough."

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Somewhere" by Within Temptation, "Hymn for the Missing" by Red, "The Animal" by Disturbed.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I hate how this chapter flowed, but I needed this stuff out of the way before Ra'wati left to see the Greybeards. The pacing from now on should be better.


	8. Top of the World

**VIII: Top of the World**

Shortly before noon, Lydia caught up with us, riding one horse and leading the other with a rope. We stopped for lunch and filled her in on what had happened.

Once we were finished, Lydia insisted on walking again while Lokir and I mounted our horses. We set off, having to stop regularly and wait for her to catch up.

"I don't care what she has against horses," Lokir muttered as we were waiting on her to catch up for the tenth time. "If we're her thanes, she's required to listen to us. I say we buy her a horse and make her ride it."

I laughed. "Good idea."

Other than a saber cat and a trio of bandits, we encountered no trouble on the way to Ivarstead. We heard dragons in the distance, and saw one circling a distant peak, but they never noticed us.

Ivarstead was a small village, smaller even than Riverwood. Apparently the only traffic through Ivarstead consisted of people headed up the mountain to High Hrothgar, the Greybeards' home. It was dark by the time we reached Ivarstead, so we stopped at the inn, Vilemyr Inn, for the night, and rose early the next morning to make our way up the mountain.

I looked up at the mountain as we left the inn. "You know, it doesn't really look _that _big from here. Maybe this won't be too bad…"

"I don't know, you can't really see the top," Lokir said. "There always seem to be clouds surrounding the top. I wonder if the Greybeards live above the cloud line…"

"Nah, they live right below it," an older Nord man said from behind us. "Those clouds have been there as long as I can remember. I take it you're pilgrims?"

We turned to face him. "Well… I guess you could say that," I said. I could have mentioned being the Dragonborn, but I was getting tired of everyone knowing more about it than I did.

"If you're headed up, do you suppose you could do a favor for me?" he asked.

"Sure," I said warily.

He took a knapsack off his back and handed it to me. "I go up every few weeks to bring food to the Greybeards, but the climb's getting hard on my knees. Could you drop this in the chest in front of High Hrothgar? I can give you some gold when you get back."

"Okay," I said. "Anything we should watch for on the way up?"

He shrugged. "You might encounter a couple of wolves, that's all. Nothing too dangerous. You'll probably see other pilgrims on the way. They'll help you out if you need it."

I looked back at the mountain. "That's probably not a good place for horses, is it?"

He shook his head. "I know they're supposed to be sure-footed, but I wouldn't risk it. The wolves might spook them. You don't want that happening on those narrow trails. If you slip, you can probably catch yourself, but if a horse slips, it's going all the way to the ground."

I nodded. "I was afraid of that. Do they ever let people inside the monastery?"

"Not very often. I've been making deliveries for years and I've never seen them. Most people just do it for the journey."

I turned to Lydia and Lokir. "Are you two coming with me? Doesn't sound like I'll really need help fighting."

Lydia frowned up at the mountain and shrugged. "If you don't really require my services, I'd be fine sitting this one out. Seems like a waste to walk up all that way if I'll likely just have to sit in the snow and wait until you're finished."

Lokir sighed. "I don't like the idea of climbing that thing, but we've been through a lot together, and this is an important event for you. I should probably stay with you for this."

I smiled. "Thanks. Let's go, then. I don't want to be stuck up there come nightfall."

We left Lydia at the edge of town and headed up the mountain. Here at the base, a set of steps had been carved into the ground, but as we went farther up, the steps were mostly broken or worn away, only appearing in small sporadic patches.

"You know," I muttered after we had climbed the first thousand steps, "there's a levitation spell in Morrowind. Why did you Nords have to be so hostile to magic?"

"Hey, don't blame me," Lokir said. "That's one spell they should have kept here."

I shrugged. "I suppose it could be dangerous. It had a short duration…"

"But most magic is dangerous. It's not our fault if stupid people get themselves killed practicing spells they don't understand."

"Yeah." I frowned thoughtfully. "The Nerevarine wrote of making levitation potions. Surely the Nords could at least import the ingredients. Cliff racer plumes and Dwemer scrap metal. That's not so hard to find…"

I spent the next 500 steps grumbling about levitation. I might have continued complaining for another 1,000, but I was interrupted by a pair of ice wolves charging down the trail at us. Once we had dealt with them, Lokir wearily suggested we listen out for other enemies, so I took the hint and shut up.

Beside the trail, rock slabs had been carved into alcoves with an inscription inside and an offering bowl in front and placed along the trail intermittently. Lokir had heard one of the villagers say there were ten of these emblem stones, and they told a story about the war with the dragons. While I was used to walking long distances, I wasn't used to climbing. By the time we passed the third emblem, I really wished we had brought the horses. I reluctantly suggested we stop for a few minutes. We found a boulder sticking out of the snow on the southeastern side of the mountain and climbed up on it. I took out a goat cheese wheel and offered Lokir half of it as I surveyed the landscape.

"If they don't have a quest to send me on right away, where do you think we should go next?" I asked.

He waved at the landscape off in the distance, past a large lake. "Riften is on the east side of that lake. I've heard that's where you have to go if you want to join the Thieves Guild. I've been thinking about doing that. I'd only steal from corrupt rich people, of course."

"Right," I said, nodding. "Maybe I should try it. I may not be any good at pickpocketing, but I got very good at sneaking while I had to hunt my own food for two years. Grandmother Ma'hini was Grandmaster of the Thieves Guild in Morrowind."

"Didn't she basically take over every Guild in Morrowind?"

"More or less. Maybe I should see if I can outdo her… But she was Grandmaster of the Morag Tong, and they don't operate here, do they?"

"Nope. The only assassin guild we have here is the Dark Brotherhood, and I don't know if they're even still around. You hear rumors occasionally that they're operating, but it sounded like they were really in decline in recent years."

I shrugged. "Probably better that way. Grandmother Ma'hini said the Morag Tong were a highly honorable, well-respected organization, but the Dark Brotherhood were nothing like them. The Dark Brotherhood even tried to assassinate her."

"I wonder how the world would have turned out if they had succeeded?"

"Well, there's no telling what Dagoth Ur and the Tribunal would have done by now, but most people don't realize how important she was to ending the Oblivion Crisis."

"Really? I never heard anything about that."

"I have her journals. If things slow down enough, I need to go get them from my old cave. She thought she had enough glory and let the Hero of Kvatch take all the credit. She had just found her future husband and was ready to settle down and start a family."

"Maybe we could go get them if the Greybeards don't have anything urgent planned for you." He looked back over the lake, past Riften. "Or we could look into the Dawnguard. That tower past Riften is Stendarr's Beacon. Fort Dawnguard is supposed to be just east of it."

I nodded. "We could look into that after we check with the Thieves Guild."

Reluctantly I rose, knowing I could spend all morning admiring the view, and led the way up the mountain again. We were almost halfway there. I just had to keep reminding myself of that. It would have been less tedious if the stairs were still intact and I could keep up with exactly how far we had climbed, but there was no way to be sure.

I thought I heard an odd hissing sound above the wind blowing. I looked around but didn't see anything. "Do you hear that?" I asked.

Lokir looked around, then pointed ahead and hissed, "Ice wraith!"

"Where?" I asked. All I saw was a patch of snow that seemed to be blowing oddly in the wind.

Then the swirling patch of snow rushed at me, and as I was raising my shield, a patch of icicles sprouted in the ground in front of me, My shield blocked the worst of them and the rest splintered against my armor.

I thought I could make out some sort of face in the cloud of snow, but I could barely focus on it. It rushed at me, and I wasn't sure if it bit into my shoulder or cast another icicle spell on me. This must be what a vampire dog's bite felt like, cold as the grave.

I swung at it, but it was gone too fast, and my shoulder felt like it was made of ice. I turned and looked for it, but I couldn't pick it out from all the snow swirling around me. "Where is it?" I called.

Lokir was also looking around frantically. "I don't know…" he began, then his words changed into a cry of pain as the ice wraith struck him in the back.

It passed right through him, and I ran to meet it. I felt solid resistance when my blade hit it, then it grazed the top of my head and I dove into the snow to avoid it. I rolled to my feet and looked around for it, but it was gone again.

"Your left!" Lokir shouted. I called up Flames and let them fly from my left hand as I turned. It hit the ice wraith dead on. The creature squealed and fell to the ground. I lowered my hand and looked down at it. It started to rise, but Lokir ran up and finished it off. It dissolved into a bluish puddle that glowed faintly.

Once the excitement faded, I realized I was shivering. The places where it had struck my shoulder and head felt like they were coated in ice. I crouched and hunched over into a ball. "That was _not_ a wolf! I think we need to have a word with that old man when we get back down…"

"Yeah, he's in for an earful." Lokir was shivering even harder than I was, but he stooped over and started rummaging through the blue puddle. He picked up what looked like two triangular chunks of ice. "These are ice wraith teeth. These things are hard to kill, so their teeth fetch a good price with alchemists." He held one of them out to me.

I reached for it, wishing I could just stay curled up to conserve heat. "Can they be used to make Resist Cold potions? Setting myself on fire doesn't sound too unreasonable right now…"

"It's just the ice wraith's spell. It'll wear off in a couple minutes," Lokir assured me with his teeth chattering.

I nodded and curled back up. "Then we can just wait here until it does."

I expected him to protect, but I guess being struck in the back was worse than the shoulder, because he mimicked my pose and we waited a few minutes until we started feeling warm again.

The path had started out straightforward, but now it became difficult to find in spots. The stairs would disappear completely for short distances, and instead of continuing in a straight line, the path would curve down and around rock outcroppings that hid the next patch of steps from view. Fortunately rocks had been piled together into small cairns with red fabric strips tied to the top to indicate the way, but it was still difficult at times to find them. I was glad it wasn't snowing and the snow kicked up by the constant wind wasn't enough to obscure the path.

After we passed the fourth emblem stone, the path led through a narrow gap between two high rock walls that curved out of sight to the left. There was no other way past, as the mountain was too steep on the right and dropped off on the left. I slowed and looked at the entrance warily. "That would be a good spot for an ambush…"

"I don't think there are any bandits up here," Lokir said, sounding uncertain. "And I don't think the ice wolves are smart enough to figure that out."

I sighed and shrugged. "Maybe I'm just getting paranoid."

With one final glance around at the surrounding mountain to be sure there wasn't a way around it, I stepped between the rock walls, telling myself I just needed a day off.

A deep roar echoed through the pass, coming from somewhere above us. I looked up to see a large, shaggy white humanoid figure standing on top of the rock wall on the right. It leaped down into the pass and advanced on us. Its gait was odd, as it almost seemed to be trying to walk on its knuckles.

"By the Eight, it's a frost troll!" Lokir groaned.

"I've never fought a troll before," I said, backing away slowly.

"They're slow, but they're very strong. You don't want it to hit you."

Once we were back out in the open, we stood our ground. It came at us and swung one arm at me. I ducked it and lunged in, not counting on it following up by swinging its other arm. It hit me in the side, the blow almost as jarring as the one I had received from the first dragon I killed. At least landing in the snow was less jarring than slamming against a boulder had been. I rolled over and tried to climb to my feet, still feeling my bones rattling.

Lokir was dancing around the troll, avoiding its blows but not landing any of his own. Suddenly I saw an arrow strike the troll in the back. It flinched and turned to find this new threat. Lokir struck the troll in the back while it was distracted.

I saw two archers back the way we had come. They both had their bows out, shooting at the troll. For a moment they kept the troll distracted while Lokir fought it, letting him wound it many times without being struck himself. Then Lokir got a little too bold and struck too quickly, and the troll struck him a glancing blow that still sent him sprawling.

The world still seemed to be swaying, but I forced myself to my feet. The troll turned to face me, soaked with blood but just as steady as ever.

_If it hits me like that again, I might roll off the side of the mountain, _I thought, then wanted to kick myself for not thinking of this sooner. I circled the troll until it was between me and the dropoff, then shouted, "_FUS!_"

My Voice struck just as heavily as I had hoped, flinging the troll through the air and over the side. I backed up and leaned against the rock wall wearily, listening to the sound of it rolling down the mountainside. I looked over at Lokir, half-buried in the snow beside me, and said sheepishly, "I keep forgetting I can do that."

Lokir picked himself up out of the snow wearily. "I've heard fire works well on them too."

I nodded. "I am _definitely _kicking that old man in the butt when we get back to Ivarstead."

The archers approached us cautiously as we took a moment to catch our breath. "You… Did you just use the Voice?' one of them asked. "Are you the ones the Greybeards called to?"

"So it would seem," I said wearily.

They looked over at the side of the cliff where the troll had disappeared. "Maybe we could travel to the top together?" the other suggested tentatively.

"Yeah, sure," I said.

"As long as you're willing to go slowly," Lokir said. "I think that troll hit us hard enough to damage our stamina regeneration."

The archers were fine with this. They said they made the pilgrimage every few years and liked to stop briefly to meditate at each emblem, which would give us regular opportunities to rest. So after a few more minutes resting, we set out again, halfway up the mountain and already exhausted.

Thankfully, we saw no more living creatures on the way up, but it was a long walk. I was about ready to start crawling when I looked up the slope and saw what looked like a castle wall stretched out before us.

"Whoa," I said softly. "So that's High Hrothgar. I was expecting them to live in a cave."

"We'll leave you to it," one of the pilgrims said. "We'll head back down once we've finished meditating." They headed over to the final emblem stone to the right of the stairs leading to High Hrothgar's door.

We waved to them, then plodded up the steps. _One foot in front of the other, _I thought. _I can sit down once we get inside._

I paused at the door, wondering if I should knock or just let myself in, but it opened before I could make up my mind. An elderly man with a long white beard stood before us, dressed in a long gray hooded robe.

"Hello," I said. "I'm Ra'wati, the, uh, everyone says I'm the Dragonborn, so… uh, you wanted to see me?" I wanted to kick myself for my lack of eloquence.

He looked me over silently, then nodded and beckoned me inside.

"What about my friend Lokir?" I asked. "I heard you don't let many people inside, but can he come with me?"

The old man looked Lokir over, his expression dispassionate, then he shrugged and nodded.

We followed him inside, into a large dimly-lit room. It was made entirely of stone, rather than partially of timber like Dragonsreach. While there were halls and stairways leading off the sides of the room, the main room was open and mostly empty. Three other gray-robed men were standing around a patch of tiles arranged in a diamond shape in the center of the room.

Lokir and I paused just inside the doorway while the one who had led us inside joined the group around the diamond. A different robed figure stepped forward, so I cautiously went to meet him.

"Greetings," he said. "I am Master Arngeir, speaker for the Greybeards."

"I'm Ra'wati, and this is… well, my bandit-hunting partner Lokir. We're going to be fighting side-by-side for the foreseeable future, so I thought he had a right to know what's up with me."

Master Arngeir nodded. "So, a Dragonborn stands before us once again," he said.

I saw no point in trying to be dignified and eloquent, so I shrugged and said, "I'm still not sure what that means, but they say I'm the Dragonborn and you summoned me, so I'm here for answers."

"First, prove to us you are Dragonborn. Let us taste of your voice."

I briefly wondered how mad they'd be if I used my fire spell, then remembered how they said Ulfric Stormcloak shouted the high king to pieces, so I decided to use my force spell instead. I took a deep breath and shouted, "_FUS_!" I watched them all stagger when it hit them, reflecting that I sort of enjoyed doing that.

"So you _are _Dragonborn," he said. "Now tell me, why have you come here?"

I fought not to sigh. _Isn't it pretty obvious? _But I just said politely, "I wish to know what it means to be Dragonborn, and to find out what you want with me."

"The Dragonborn are those with the Dragon Blood, a gift bestowed by Akatosh. We are here to guide you, as we have guided many others."

"You mean I'm not the only Dragonborn?" I asked, feeling a little less special.

"There have been many in the past, but we have not seen one for quite some time, not since Tiber Septim. There could be others out there, but you are the only one that has been revealed to us thus far."

"Okay… So what exactly does it mean to have the Dragon Blood?"

"That means you have the natural ability to focus your voice into a thu'um, or Shout. This ability was a gift to men from the Goddess Kynareth. Anyone can learn to do so, but those without Akatosh's gift take many years to learn each Shout."

"Can you teach me more about using the Voice?"

"Yes. It is our duty to help you to learn to use your gift in fulfillment of your destiny."

My ears pricked. "Do you know what my destiny is?"

He shook his head. "No. We can help you find that path, but we cannot say what lies along it. That is for you to discover."

_Darn it… _I sighed and said, "Okay. If you have something to teach me, I'm ready to learn."

"Very well. You have proven that you have the inborn gift, and you have taken the first steps in projecting your voice into a thu'um without training. Let's see if you are willing and able to learn." He turned and beckoned me to follow him as he returned to the group in the middle of the floor. "When you Shout, you speak in the ancient language of the dragons. Your dragon blood gives you an inborn ability to master this. Each shout is made up of three words. Each time you master a new word, your shout will grow stronger. Master Einarth will teach you _ro, _the second word of Unrelenting Force. It means 'balance.' When combined with _fus,_ it will allow you to focus your shout more sharply."

Another of the Greybeards came forward and stood before me. Before I could ask what he intended to do, the wind that rose up when I absorbed dragon souls and Shouts began swirling around us, seeming to draw streamers of flame out of him and into me.

When the wind died down again, I was momentarily frozen in horror. "Did I just absorb your soul?"

"No, he allowed you to absorb his knowledge of _ro_," Master Arngeir assured me. "When you absorb a dragon's soul, you are absorbing all of its knowledge, just as you absorb knowledge from the Word Walls."

I nodded, let my breath out and glanced around the room. "Do you want me to use Unrelenting Force again?"

"No, that won't be necessary. We have to use a Shout many times to master it, but you seem to learn Shouts automatically. Go with Master Borri now. He will teach you a new shout in the courtyard. It's not safe to use this one indoors."

After glancing back to motion Lokir to come, I followed another of the Greybeards up a set of steps and out a set of double doors set in the back wall. The courtyard was much less impressive than the front of High Hrothgar had been. It was an empty-snow-covered space dotted with a few random stone pillars, although it did have one very tall watchtower remaining.

"Now we will see how quickly you master a completely new Shout. Master Borri will teach you _wuld, _which means whirlwind."

I approached Master Borri, and absorbed his knowledge the same way I had done to Master Einarth.

"Now Master Wulfgar will demonstrate Whirlwind Sprint, then it will be your turn."

I followed him over to a pair of pillars set several feet apart. Some thirty feet ahead, a second set of stone pillars supported an iron gate. Master Wulfgar shouted something, and suddenly he was standing in front of the open gate. He walked over to the side on one of the pillars, where a lever was mounted that I assumed would close the gate.

"Now use Whirlwind Sprint before the gate closes," Master Arngeir said. "Running into the gate won't kill you, but it isn't very pleasant."

"_Wuld!_" I shouted as Master Wulfgar pulled the lever. My stomach seemed to stay behind as my body was propelled forward at high speed. I came to a stop past the gate, feeling giddy.

"Yeah, let's see those kids beat me at tag now!" I laughed.

Master Wulfgar raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, I mean, let's see those bandits try to escape now," I said, much more subdued.

Off in the distance, I noticed a path leading further up the mountain, but a strong wind was blowing across it. If I tried to walk on the path, it would blow me right off the side of the mountain. Strangely, the courtyard was unaffected by the wind, which ended abruptly at he start of the path.

"What's up with that path?" I asked. "That wind can't be natural."

"That is the path to the home of our leader, Paarthurnax," Arngeir said. "He is even more selective in who he allows to visit than we are."

"Do I need to speak to him?"

Eventually, but you are not ready yet. When you can use your voice to clear the path, you will be ready. For now, I have one last task for you."

I turned away from the path. "If I have to fetch something for you, I hope it can wait until tomorrow. I had a nasty encounter with a frost troll on the way up here."

He nodded. "I need you to retrieve the horn of Jurgen Windcaller from his tomb. Perhaps then you will be ready to speak with Paarthurnax. The task is not urgent, so you may rest here if you wish. Or we can give you some stamina potions for the journey down the mountain."

I handed him my map to mark and looked over at Lokir questioningly. He shrugged and said, "I'm in favor of the stamina potions. We need to meet back up with Lydia and plan our next move."

"Very well. We keep them in a large chest near the base of the front steps."

"Oh, that reminds me," I said, reaching into my knapsack and pulling out their bag of supplies. "Someone asked me to bring this to you. He said his knees weren't up to the climb right now."

"Ah, yes. Be sure to thank Klimmek for us when you return to Ivarstead."

"Yeah, I'll definitely be having a word with him," I said through my teeth.

Lokir and I said our farewells and headed back through High Hrothgar and out the front door. We retrieved a few stamina potions from the chest out front, then walked over to the edge of the cliff to spend a moment admiring the scenery.

"That's Dragonsreach, isn't it?" I asked, pointing at something to the northwest.

"Yep. We could save ourselves a lot of trouble if we just rolled down the mountain."

I sighed. "Tempting, but Lydia would be mad when she realized we weren't coming back."

"Pity. It's going to be a long way around. Looks like Jurgen Windcaller's tomb is way over there past Whiterun, near Solitude."

I shook my head. "I know I have to go there eventually, but… Well, after Dustman's Cairn…"

Lokir shuddered. "Yeah, I know. That was the worst fight I've ever been in."

"Yeah, I just don't feel like going into another draugr nest just yet. Let's go to Riften and check out the Thieves Guild while we're in the area."

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Only a Mountain" by Jason Castro, "Pittsburgh" by Amity Affliction (tongue-in-cheek) (Yeah, not much musical inspiration this time.)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Ra'wati isn't actually going to kick Klimmek in the butt, but doing so was my first thought when I encountered the frost troll for the first time.

The next 5-8 chapters cover the part of the story I really wanted to tell, and should make it clear what my vague story description is talking about.


	9. Bloodlust

**IX: Bloodlust**

[**Warning: This chapter is not for the squeamish.**]

Despite the stamina potions, we were happy to make it back to the inn in Ivarstead. We filled Lydia in on everything, then spent a few hours sleeping our exhaustion off.

It was still daylight when we awoke, but the sun was about to set. I looked out the inn door impatiently, then turned to my companions. "I take it you two don't want to travel at nighttime?"

"I'd really rather not," Lokir said apologetically. "I'm sure you'd do fine if we were attacked in the dark, but we Nords don't see so well in the dark."

I sighed. "This would be a lot easier if you two were Khajiit."

"Are you up for another swordfighting lesson?" Lokir asked.

"Might as well," I said.

We spent the last full hour of sunlight training. Lokir informed me that I was almost as good with a sword as he was. He thought he might be able to give me one more lesson, and then I would need to find a new teacher.

We headed back into the inn. I walked over to the innkeeper and asked, "Do you have any kind of a bathhouse?"

"Bathhouse?" he asked, looking confused. "Well, we don't have any kind of structure, but you're free to take a dip in the river. It's fed by snowmelt, so it's really cold."

I sighed. "I was hoping for something a little warmer, but that's better than nothing. Is there any discreet place I could use?"

"It's almost dark. You won't have to worry about spectators."

"I can see in the dark. I don't count on darkness to hide me."

"Ah, right," he said, seeming to remember I was a Khajiit. "If you go east across the bridge, there's a small island out in the water to the north. It should be private there."

"Why? Is there something on the island?"

"It's the entrance to some sort of ancient burial tomb. I've heard the locals call it Geirmund's Hall. Nobody knows anything about it other than its name, but it gives everybody a really bad feeling."

"Okay. Thanks for the suggestion," I said. It didn't sound like anyone had seen any ghosts or draugr there, so that was good enough for me.

Lokir and Lydia were sitting by the firepit, preparing to eat supper. I let them know what I was doing and promised I'd be right back.

Once I arrived at my destination, I spent a few moments observing the small island. I thought I saw the mouth of a cave leading down into the island, but it was hard to make out through the trees. Something about the island made me uneasy, but I saw nothing on the island other than a pair of deer.

After another moment wondering if I might find myself exploring that tomb one day, I put it out of my mind and rummaged in my pack for a change of clothes. I went for a quick swim in the icy lake, then put my old bloodstained clothes in the water with several rocks to weigh them down. I'd come back for them in the morning. Maybe I could tie them to my saddle to dry.

I put on my spare clothes, hung my mother's Talos amulet around my neck and picked up my armor. It was starting to look a little rough. Grandmother Ma'hini had been a master at repairing armor, but the Nords seemed to have little appreciation for that skill. I wasn't sure what I had to do to repair the armor, but I wasn't tired yet and the sun was just setting, so I had all night to figure it out.

_I could just buy a new set, _I thought, then wondered if that was the attitude that had caused the Nords to stop worrying about repairing their armor.

I put on my boots and sword-belt and stuffed the rest of my gear in my pack. I headed back up the hill to the cobblestone path, absently noting that a group of people carrying torches were crossing the bridge beside me. _Probably guards, _I thought.

They were on my left. I usually turn my head quickly to the left every few steps to compensate for my reduced visual field, but right then I was keeping an eye on the rocks on the path in front of me, so I didn't really look at them as I stepped onto the path just as they caught up with me. .

"Stop!" the one in front suddenly shouted, and I finally looked at him.

It was a group of ten Thalmor.

"What is that?" the leader demanded, drawing his sword and pointing the tip at me, an inch in front of my Talos amulet.

"That… that's a necklace that belonged to my dead mother," I said. "I don't have anything else to remember her by."

He snorted derisively. "That is all the proof we need of your Talos worship. Come with us."

One of the others came up on my left and grabbed the amulet before I could react, snapping the cord.

"Hey, give that back!" I shouted.

"We gave you an order," he said haughtily.

I sighed. "Look, you're overreacting. I am not a worshipper of Talos. The only Divine I have any sort of relationship with is Akatosh. You're not going to accomplish anything by attacking me. It would be best for both of us if you just walked away."

The other Thalmor drew their weapons. "So you choose to resist?" the leader said with a laugh.

"_FUS RO!_" I shouted.

My Shout was now strong enough to toss them into the air. Four of them went over the side of the bridge, while the other six landed heavily on the ground beside the inn.

I walked up to the edge of the bridge. "I am the Dragonborn and I will give you one last chance. You can walk away, or I can kill you."

The six beside the inn got shakily to their feet and advanced on me with weapons drawn.

I drew my sword and suddenly realized I had put my shield away with the rest of my armor. The only armor I was wearing now was my pair of boots, and the Thalmor were unlikely to go for my feet.

I took off running across the bridge, hoping to lead them away from the innocent villagers. I didn't think to call for Lydia and Lokir until it was too late, but I had used my Shout right beside the inn, so I would just have to hope they realized I was in trouble.

While I ran, I fumbled around inside my pack for my bow and quiver. I hastily slung the pack on my back and drew back an arrow. I turned and did my best to run backwards while I aimed. This hindered my accuracy, but I still saw one of them stagger as an arrow hit him in the leg.

Only six of them were following me. I didn't have time to wonder where the other four had gone.

I glanced behind me and saw I was almost up against a rock wall. I stopped so I could aim properly. My next arrow hit a different Thalmor in the chest. He staggered and fell to the ground.

I heard a bear roar off to my left. I looked over and saw one emerging from the mouth of a cave in the rock wall. It charged at me. I turned to run, and it grabbed my pack. I tugged frantically to get away. The strap holding it on snapped and I tumbled forward.

The bear was momentarily distracted by his new prize. I had no choice but to get away without it. I ran to the right, with the Thalmor following.

I heard one of them scream suddenly. The sound was cut off abruptly. I glanced back and saw the bear had lost interest in my pack and caught up to the Thalmor I had shot in the chest. It was dragging the lifeless body back to the cave.

I slung my bow over my shoulder and drew my sword. I would be unlikely to get far enough ahead to use the bow again.

I screamed and fell to the ground when an arrow hit me in the back of the leg. I jerked it out and had just enough time to use a healing spell before the Thalmor caught up to me.

I jumped up and leaped forward, keeping low, and struck the first one across the legs. He went down, and I quickly chopped his head off, then braced myself for the other four.

I found myself wishing I had chosen to train with a greatsword. I could have used it as a crude shield to block blows. But I was left with nothing, having to rely on agility to avoid mortal wounds.

I tried ducking the first blow, slashing across his ribs and rolling away, but another of them swung down at me as I rolled past, grazing my back. I whirled around and hit him in the leg, but I had to leap out of the way of another opponent before I could strike again.

I got to my feet and went for the closest one. As my bloodlust rose, so did my ferocity, and I found myself slashing at him too quickly for him to counterstrike. He did his best to block with his blade, so few of my blows got through.

_I'm going to wear myself out, _I realized. One of my strikes finally got through solidly, slashing him across the stomach. He stumbled backwards, and another took his place before I could finish him off.

Another arrow struck me, this time in my left side below the ribs. With no armor on, it went in deep. I hissed in pain and turned to confront the archer. I charged him desperately. He kept his bow out and fired another arrow at me, but I rolled to the side just in time and he missed. At the end of my sideways roll I leaped forward and hacked him across the belly. I landed unsteadily and fell to my side, and by the time I had righted myself, another Thalmor had come to his rescue.

I saw the archer healing himself behind my new opponent, and I glanced back and saw the last one I had almost finished off was also healing himself. I also saw the fourth and final Thalmor standing behind me, raising his hands, and before I could react, a continuous cloud of ice billowed out from his hands and washed over me, every bit as intensely cold as the ice spell the ice wraith had used.

I tried to roll away from him, but he followed me, keeping the freezing cloud on me. Another Thalmor came at me with his sword again. I swung at him and deflected the blow, but the cold was getting to me and I wasn't reacting as fast anymore.

I needed to heal myself, but I had no time to use a spell and no food or potions with me. All of my supplies were back at the bear cave. But the Thalmor were able to guard their companions while they healed themselves. If I couldn't take them out soon, I was going to die.

The archer had recovered while I was trying to escape the mage. He shot another arrow at me, this time hitting me in the stomach.

Rage exploded in my head as intensely as the pain in my stomach. Flashbacks of the bandits and of my parents dying flew through my head. I suddenly realized I didn't just want to cut them down with my sword. That wasn't bloody enough.

The Thalmor hesitated when they saw my body start to waver and grow. I heard them gasp in surprise as my form solidified into the werewolf.

I lunged at the mage. He kept his hands up, keeping the spell blasting me in the face, but I ignored the freezing pain and grabbed his arms, clamping them down at his sides with my huge paws. He started to scream, but I clamped my jaws around his head and neck and gave a mighty sideways wrench.

The accompanying sound might have made my true self vomit, but the beast hardly noticed.

The other Thalmor screamed in horror and backed away, leaving me standing over the mangled corpse. I looked down at it and suddenly I knew something about werewolves we had not been told.

Feeding on dead bodies would heal my wounds.

I want to say I did it to heal myself, but I don't think that was my real motivation. Deep down, I was just hungry for blood, for his heart.

I felt my strength returning and my pain fading as I consumed his heart. For a moment, the beast inside me was elated. For a moment, I realized this was what I really wanted. I wanted to rip my enemies apart and drink their blood. For just a moment, that part of me that became so excited at the prospect of battle was sated, had exactly what it had been craving.

Then it was gone and I was left crouched over a corpse with no head or heart. I looked down at what I had done to the body and wondered if I should keep eating, if that would satiate the bloodlust and heal my wounds further.

Then I heard my opponents rushing at me, and I looked up at them.

I didn't see three more Thalmor advancing, I just saw three more hearts to feast upon.

I ran to meet them. I swung my right paw forward, catching the first one across the chest. His armor did little to stop my massive claws. He toppled to the ground and stayed there.

I turned my attention to him, ready to feast on another heart, but another Thalmor came at me. He hit me in the side while I was distracted. I whirled and smashed my fist into his head. He also went down, and I fell on him and finished him off.

As I was leaning down to tear his chest open, an arrow struck me in the neck. I howled in pain as the blood started to gush out. I awkwardly tried to pull the arrow out, then rushed at the archer.

He tried once again to fire one last arrow at me. It really was his last arrow. It hit me in the neck too, and if I had been farther away, it might have saved him and finished me, but I was on him before the blood loss hit me.

I pulled the arrow out and fell to all fours, blood spurting from my neck in two places. Even if I had no desire to consume their hearts, in that moment it was the only thing that could save me. I was stumbling and ready to pass out as I took the archer's heart. It gave me enough strength to return to the last two corpses.

Once I had feasted, and I had no further targets, my bloodlust began to wane. My neck wounds were healed, but I had still lost a lot of blood. I settled down heavily in the trampled grass to rest. I laid my head down and closed my eyes.

"Ra'wati?" I heard Lokir call.

"Are you sure that's her?" Lydia asked.

After a moment of silence, Lokir said, "When I see its eyes, I'll be able to tell."

I picked my head up wearily and saw him and Lydia walking up to me cautiously. They both looked bloody and exhausted. As the light from Lydia's torch fell on my face, they both relaxed, seeing my blank white eye.

I thought back to the four missing Thalmor, the ones who had been knocked in the river. They must have been delayed by being swept downstream a bit and caught Lokir and Lydia when they came out to see why I had Shouted.

I tried to push myself to my feet, but I suddenly began changing back into a Khajiit. I lost my balance and fell over.

I laid there in the grass for a moment, afraid to move. "By the Nine, what have I done?" I breathed.

"You defended yourself, that's what," Lydia said curtly. She knelt beside me and pulled me into a sitting position, then handed me my clothes.

Lokir was standing with his back politely turned. Either that or he didn't want to look at what I had done to the Thalmor. "What set them off?" he asked.

"I hadn't put my armor back on yet and I had my Talos amulet in sight." I put my head in my hands. "I told them they could walk away. I wasn't going to kill them… I couldn't heal myself and they were winning, I had to become a werewolf or die… I never meant to do this…"

"Hey, it's okay," Lydia said gently. "They asked for it."

I sighed. "That's not the worst part. What I did here…" I waved back at the corpses, not ready to look at them yet, "it was fun. More fun than I've had in years. And that wasn't just the werewolf that enjoyed it."

Lokir sighed. "I haven't seen you attack anyone that didn't deserve it or provoke you. It's nothing to worry about. Besides, nobody likes the Thalmor."

"And yet the Emperor bows to them," I said slowly.

Lokir shrugged. "The Emperor is weak. I don't think he wants them around any more than we do."

"But he allows it and looks the other way when they harm people," I said slowly, then sighed. "Lokir, I know you won't like the idea, but I think I'm ready to go to Windhelm and hear Ulfric Stormcloak out."

Lokir finally turned to look at me. Good thing I was fully dressed now. "You can't be serious."

"Ulfric wants to throw the Thalmor out of Skyrim. What's wrong with that? If the Emperor won't protect the people, somebody else needs to."

Lokir looked down and sighed. "I don't know. I've always been loyal to the Empore…"

"You don't have to come with me. You're a better thief. You can go on to Riften, or see about joining the Dawnguard, while I go to Windhelm. I can meet you in Riften a couple days later."

He nodded reluctantly. "If you're certain. As long as you don't make any promises to Ulfric without me present."

"I just want to hear him out, that's all."

"We can worry about that tomorrow." He helped me to my feet and threw one of my arms over his shoulder. He helped me back to Ivarstead while Lydia spent a few minutes collecting items from the corpses.

* * *

The guards were very understanding when we returned. They were sympathetic to the Stormcloaks and happy to see the Thalmor taken out. One of the guards fetched my pack from outside the bear cave, while another found my Talos amulet and returned it to me. I thanked him profusely and put it in my pack where no more Thalmor would see it.

While a lot of the Thalmor armor was destroyed beyond repair, we pieced together two full sets. Lokir and I donned them in place of our Imperial armor. We also took their elven bows and swords. And we'd still get a fair amount of gold for what was left.

We set out at dawn, following the lakes and river east to Riften. We stayed together until we saw the city of Riften up ahead, hidden from view by a tall stone wall. We stopped to make our final plans.

"You're absolutely sure you want to do this?" Lokir asked.

"Yes. It's just reconnaissance. I'm not making any commitments."

"Okay. I want to stay by your side, but I just don't feel comfortable with the Stormcloaks."

"It's okay. I'm not taking it personally."

"What about me?" Lydia asked.

"Do you have anything against the Stormcloaks?" I asked.

"No, I'd rather stay neutral."

"You should go with Ra'wati. I'll be fine here," Lokir said. "And if I go to Fort Dawnguard, it's just a short journey. It's much farther to Windhelm. Ra'wati will need your help more than I will."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Sounds like there are a lot of criminals here…"

"They can't be worse than a dragon."

Lydia agreed to come with me, but she wouldn't take Lokir's horse, even when he insisted he was just going to leave it at the stables. She held that he would need it if he decided to check out Fort Dawnguard. So to be fair, I dismounted and loaded our packs onto the horse's back, and Lydia and I said farewell to Lokir and set out north on foot.

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Game On" by Disciple, "Waking the Demon" by Bullet for My Valentine, "The Animal" and "Devour" by Disturbed, "Breathing Blood" by Oh, Sleeper

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I'm a longtime ethical vegetarian and I was raised in a religion with a major taboo against consuming blood, so this chapter was hard to write. I actually don't understand what's going through Ra'wati's head during the werewolf scene, but I wanted to challenge myself to write someone with an alien mindset.

I hate having Ra'wati master the sword so fast. This is one of those things that makes sense in a video game, but not in fiction. Since there's no way around it without changing her backstory, I'm grudgingly going with the "mastery in a month" setup, but let me repeat that I'm not happy about it.


	10. The First Contract

**X: The First Contract**

The road north was very quiet. Just north of Riften, the cobblestone path led through the middle of a small walled fort, but someone had put rows of sharpened stakes up in front of the entrance to the fort, as if guarding against intruders, and I got the feeling bandits had taken it over. Without Lokir, I decided not to pursue the bandits, so Lydia and I found a sandy path that led around the right side of the fort. We bypassed it without alerting the new residents and continued on our way.

Right up ahead, we found an old wooden watchtower with several dead Riften guards in and around it and blood splattered on the walls. This confirmed my suspicions that bandits were around. Maybe once we joined back up with Lokir, we'd see about clearing that fort out.

North of the fort and watchtower, we passed through the gap in the mountains we had come through on our way to Ivarstead. Far to the west, I could make out Dragonsreach on its hill standing out amidst the relatively flat plain encircled by mountains, but our destination was due north.

It had been almost midday when we reached Riften, and the sun had set by the time we made our way down the meandering path out of the southern foothills, across the geyser-studded field and up into the northern foothills. Snow appeared on the ground at the base of the hills, and while the weather had been clear down below, it seemed to snow here constantly.

We walked up a winding path and came to the top of one final hill. Down below, the path led to a horse stable with a carriage out front. The stable was built up against a fortified stone bridge spanning an icy river, leading to a walled city almost lost in the swirling snow. The walls looked even bigger than the ones surrounding Whiterun.

We stopped at the stable briefly to unload my horse. I took a moment to look the stable's horses over, but they were solid brown with white stockings, not pretty enough to justify throwing away 1,000 septims. I suddenly realized I had been too distracted by bidding Lokir farewell to go by the stable in Riften and see what color horses they offered. Feeling somewhat irritated with myself, I turned my attention back to the walled city.

We approached the city cautiously, but the guards pacing the bridge barely noticed us. The guards standing in front of the city gate, however, were looking me over disapprovingly. I struck my haughty pose and approached like I had every right to be there.

"What business do you have in Windhelm, Khajiit?" one of them sneered.

"Ra'wati Indoril, thane of Whiterun, here to speak with Ulfric Stormcloak," Lydia announced, for once sounding like she respected me.

I looked down my nose at him, hoping my tendency to tilt my head to the left wouldn't ruin the effect.

The guards just laughed.

A barrel sitting by the edge of the bridge caught my attention. I casually turned to face the barrel and shouted, "_Fus Ro!_"

The barrel went flying through the air, raining red apples down on the ground below, before smashing against the city wall several hundred feet away.

I turned back just as casually to face the guard, who had gone very quiet. He sidled out of my way and opened the gate, not taking his eyes off me.

I reached in my pack and pulled out a red apple. I silently pushed it into his hands as I walked past.

As soon as the doors closed behind me, my calm haughtiness dissolved into bewilderment as I looked around at the city. Whiterun had had a nice straightforward layout, but this city's buildings were arranged haphazardly. There were waist-high stone walls and short sets of stairs everywhere. I found the whole layout confusing.

I was turning to Lydia to ask if she could make sense of the city's landscape when I heard someone nearby shout, "Nobody wants you here! You take up our houses and eat our food and you refuse to help the Stormcloaks!"

Over to our right, two drunken Nord men were facing a Dunmer woman. The Nords looked like they were ready to fight.

The Dunmer woman snorted. "We don't take sides because it isn't our fight."

"Maybe you grayskins won't help us because you're really Imperial spies!"

She made a disgusted noise. "You can't be serious."

"Maybe we'll pay you a visit later on tonight," he said menacingly.

I stepped forward. "Is there a problem?"

The first speaker looked at me and started shouting, "Who let a Khajiit in the city?! We don't want you here either! Filthy, thieving, skooma-eating…"

I drew my sword without taking my eyes off him. He suddenly trailed off and blinked at me a few times, as if just realizing I was fully armored. He and his companion exchanged a couple wary glances, then slowly backed away. Once they had gotten far enough, they turned and ran.

"Thank you," the Dunmer said to me warily. "Not many people here stand up for us."

"Oh, I know how you feel," I said sadly. "Nobody wants Khajiit around. I have no time for people like those two."

"Then I'm afraid you've come to the wrong city. Windhelm is a haven for the narrow-minded and the prejudiced. It's not just us Dark Elves they hate, either. They seem to especially hate Argonians. Though they seem to despise anyone who isn't a Nord."

"So everyone here is like that?" I asked, not liking where this was going.

"No, those two are the worst, but very few people care much for us. It's not like we came here by choice. When Red Mountain erupted, we lost our homes and had to flee. Windhelm was the first city we came to. Ulfric said we could stay and he gave us housing on the east side of the city, what everyone calls the Gray Quarter, but the place is a slum. It's filthy. We keep asking him for help fixing it up, and he keeps assuring us he'll come down to look at it, but he never does."

"Are those two going to come after you?" Lydia asked.

"That idiot Rolff often comes to the Gray Quarter after dark and screams insults at us, but I don't think he's dangerous."

After she walked off, I turned to Lydia and said softly, "This doesn't look promising."

Lydia shrugged. "If you expect this war to be black and white, you're going to be disappointed. That's not how life works."

I looked to the east, where the Dunmer had gone. "I think I want to see this 'Gray Quarter' before I talk to Ulfric Stormcloak."

We turned east and headed up some of the ubiquitous stairs. Past the building on our left, two paths led north, one level with where we were standing, the other sloping down to a lower level. Nothing I saw was symmetrical and it was starting to set my teeth on edge.

But something on the right caught my eye. There were two stone houses there, with a stone wall with an arched entryway in front of the yard between them. Someone was curled up on the rocky ground against the wall inside the yard, shivering. They had nothing to sleep on and no blanket to cover up with.

I suddenly felt sick as I realized it was a small child, a girl no older than Lucia. I ran over and knelt beside her. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm so cold," she whispered as she wearily sat up.

"Why are you sleeping on the ground? Do you not have somewhere else to go?" I rummaged around in my pack and found a tanned deer hide. I wrapped it around her with the fur on the inside.

"No," she said in a small voice, pulling the deer hide tight around her. "My mother died when I was little. I don't remember much about her. My father was a Stormcloak. He went out with the other soldiers one day and never came back. I collect flowers and sell them to buy food, but I don't know what else to do."

"Have you eaten tonight?"

"No, not since yesterday. Nobody bought any flowers today."

"Come with us to the inn. We'll buy you something to eat."

She followed us back to the inn, Candlehearth Hall, which was the first building we saw when we entered the city. We took a table close to the fire and were served beef stew. It was late, so the stew was cold, but none of us cared.

We talked with the little girl as we ate. Her name was Sofia and she had only been on her own for a couple of weeks.

"Does Jarl Ulfric know about you?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know," Sofia said. "I haven't gone to him for help. I was thinking about it, but then Aventus Aretino came back from the orphanage in Riften. He said the old lady in charge there is horrible."

"A little girl in Whiterun also said she was supposed to be horrible," I said. "Maybe I should see what's up when I go back to Riften."

"I don't think you need to," Sofia said quietly.

I leaned in close. "Why not?"

She lowered her voice even further. "I've heard rumors Aventus is performing the Black Sacrament to summon the Dark Brotherhood. He's going to send an assassin to take care of her."

"Do the guards know about this?" Lydia asked, sounding shocked.

Sofia shrugged. "A lot of people have heard the rumors. I don't think the guards take them seriously. But I believe it."

The inn's front door opened and a guard came in. We fell silent and returned to our meal, but the guard came over to our table.

"Excuse me, Khajiit?" the guard asked.

"My name is Ra'wati," I said wearily.

He nodded. "Thane Ra'wati, Jarl Ulfric has heard rumors about a Khajiit who can use the Voice. If you showed up, we were to bring you before him."

"I thought he'd be asleep, late as it is," I said.

"The war keeps him up late. You may follow me when you are ready."

I looked down at my bowl of stew, barely half-eaten. Reminding myself that I was not pretending to be a noblewoman, I picked the bowl up and drank it all in one draught. I rose, ignoring the startled looks everyone in the room gave me, and picked up a cheese wedge to eat as I walked.

"Do you want to stay here?" I asked Lydia.

"Yeah, I wanted to enjoy my supper," she said dryly.

I tossed her a few coins. "Sofia is staying here tonight. Go see about renting a room for us when you're through eating. I shouldn't be gone long."

I followed the guard out of Candlehearth Hall. The entrance to the Palace of the Kings was straight behind the inn on the other side of the city.

Inside, the palace was grander than Dragonsreach. It was all stone, and even the ceiling appeared to be covered in carved stone panels. The entranceway was a very long hallway with two long tables down the center, both set for a meal. At the far side of the room, a Nord man was seated in a raised throne, while another was standing in front of him.

"Balgruuf will come to his senses soon enough," the man in the throne was saying. I recognized him as Ulfric Stormcloak from our encounter at Helgen.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," the other man said. "We've intercepted messages from the Empire. They're putting pressure on him to throw his lot in with them."

"What would you have me do, then? Take his city when he may still side with us?" He rose and walked to a hall on the left-hand side of the room, followed by the other man. I cautiously walked over to the hall to watch them.

"How much longer can we wait? I say you should take him out like you did King Torygg…"

"Torygg was merely a message to the other jarls. I would rather take Whiterun without bloodshed, but if not…" he trailed off.

"We're ready when you are. The people are behind you."

They seemed to be leaning over a table. They both paced to the other side of the room down the hallway, and I saw there was a map of Skyrim laid out on the table. It had colored flags planted on it, marking cities and forts. It appeared blue represented the Stormcloaks and red represented the Empire.

I slowly walked over to the map. It looked like Ivarstead was marked with a blue flag.

Ulfric and his companion fell silent. I was still munching away on my cheese wedge, scanning the map and waiting for them to speak again, when I realized they were both staring at me.

"You must be very brave or very foolish to come before me uninvited," Ulfric commented.

"The guards said I had permission to come speak with you as soon as I arrived," I said, trying to regain my composure while gulping down a mouthful of cheese. It was a losing battle.

He nodded. "So you're the Dragonborn Khajiit."

"The Greybeards confirmed it."

"You were also at Helgen, weren't you? Ra'wati the orphaned vagabond?"

"Yes," I said, surprised he remembered.

"You've done well for yourself since then."

"Hunting bandits can be quite lucrative."

"I had wondered if you might show up in Windhelm, after how the Imperials welcomed you to Skyrim."

I winced. "Yeah, the Empire and I won't be friends anytime soon, but… Well, I came here to see how the Stormcloaks differed from the Empire. I had hoped I'd find a noble cause I could support, but I have to admit I'm not sure I like what I see so far."

He laughed. "Bold and honest. I like that. What about my followers do you disapprove of?"

"I'm concerned about the way everyone says Skyrim belongs to the Nords."

"It is our homeland."

"I know, but not only Nords live here."

"Yes, I realize that. The natives of Skyrim should be its rulers, not the Aldmeri Dominion."

"Surely you can see why this attitude disturbs me. I had never been inside a city when we first crossed paths, and I was only allowed inside Whiterun because I had information they wanted. I want my children, and the Argonians, to be able to come and go as we please in the cities, not to only be allowed inside if it serves a Nord's purpose."

"My people may talk like we only want Nords here, but I assure you I welcome anyone who will support us."

"What about the Dunmer?"

"They have not chosen a side."

"Yes, but they came here seeking sanctuary, and the one I talked to said they're confined to a slum and you won't come down there to speak with them."

He sighed. "I have only just found my way back here after what happened at Helgen. I have been very busy. I will speak with them when I have the time."

His tone didn't sound convincing, but I dismissed it for now. "Okay. Do you know about the little orphan girl, Sofia?"

He shook his head. "I know of no orphans in the city. I would have sent her to the Riften orphanage if I did."

"I found her sleeping on the ground outside with nothing to cover up with. She says she had nothing to eat today. Her father was one of your men who never returned from a mission."

To his credit, he looked troubled. "Nobody told me about her. Where is she now?"

"I took her to Candlehearth Hall and bought her a meal and a bed for the night. She said she had tried to stay hidden because she had heard how cruel the woman in charge of the orphanage is."

"It's a shame, but we have nowhere else to send her…"

"Would you allow me to adopt her?"

"Do you have a place for her?" he asked skeptically.

I suddenly remembered how destitute I had been when last we met. "You may recall Lokir, the Nord who was shot down by archers trying to escape the headsman. I got him to a healer in time. We've been adventuring together ever since, and we've taken out enough bandits and sold enough loot to buy a house in Whiterun. We already adopted one orphan girl we found in Whiterun, and we have enough room for a second child."

He nodded. "I'm happy to hear another managed to escape from that dragon, and that you have done so well for yourself. Yes, you may take her in. Her father would have wanted her to have a family take her in rather than the orphanage."

"Thank you," I said, then frowned. "That dragon… Did you have anything to do with it?"

He laughed. "It would be quite handy to be able to summon dragons to fight the Empire, but no, I had nothing to do with that."

"Oh. It was odd, the way it showed up right before they were going to execute you…"

"I know. I am just as confused as everyone else. But it tried to kill me as well. It had to be pure coincidence."

He had a point. I nodded and looked back at the map. "One last thing. I see you have Ivarstead marked as your city on that map, but I was attacked by a group of ten Thalmor there."

"The Thalmor are in Ivarstead?" Ulfric's companion snarled.

"They _were,_" I said quickly. "My companions and I killed them all."

Ulfric and his companion exchanged worried glances. "The Empire must be testing us," his companion growled.

"Yes, Galmar," Ulfric said. "Perhaps we will have to make our move sooner rather than later, if our enemies are going to act so boldly." He turned back to me. "If that is all, I shall take my leave now."

I nodded. "Perhaps I will come back to join you eventually, but I need some time to think it over first. If Windhelm was the type of city that welcomed the beastfolk, I would be willing to join you right now, but…"

"So you think the Empire is preferable?" Ulfric demanded, finally losing his composure. "The Empire that impoverishes my people to pay its debts but is too weak to rule us? The Empire that brands us criminals for wanting to rule ourselves? The Empire that looks the other way when foreign soldiers drag my people away to be tortured and murdered for worshiping our own gods?"

"Look, I'm on your side about all of this," I said. "I believe your people should be free to honor their traditions without being tortured and murdered for it. I believe your people deserve justice. But I don't believe only Nords deserve justice. There are more than Nords in Skyrim, and most of us don't have the option of returning to our homelands." I laughed mirthlessly. "For some of us, this _is _our homeland, and for some of us, we have no homeland, nowhere else to go."

"Fair enough," he sighed. "I will think about what you have said tonight."

I headed back down the hall and into the throne room. As I walked past the tables, I couldn't help reflecting that here Ulfric had a feast laid out while Sofia had gone hungry and had to sleep on the cold hard ground with no blankets. Did he really not know about her? I had noticed her easily enough.

I paused after I walked out the front door of the palace. Candlehearth Hall was straight ahead by the city gates, but I never had gone to see the slum the Dunmer lived in. Maybe I should do that now. There was a path leading to the east side of town on my left.

I headed down the path. It turned south, and a set of steps descended to a lower level. There was a house raised above the road on stone pillars like bridge supports. The path passed under the house, through a stone arch. I stopped on the other side and turned back to look at the house. It was quite an interesting way to save space in a cramped city like this.

As I was turning around to resume my journey, I noticed a plaque over the door that said _Aretino._

This was one of the pivotal moments of my life. If I had turned around then and walked back to Candlehearth Hall, everything would have been so much simpler. I would have been saved so much pain and grief and despair and frustration and internal conflict and guilt. All by just walking away.

But instead, I crept over to the door and put my ear against it. I had noticed a light burning in one of the windows, and I could just barely hear a voice inside, too faith to make out what it was saying.

I shook my head and started to back away. What was I doing? If Aventus Aretino was trying to summon the Dark Brotherhood, it was none of my business. I had plenty of problems already and didn't need to go looking for more. They did a fine job of finding me on their own.

But then my maternal instinct reared its worried head. He was an orphan who had made the journey back here from Riften on his own. Had he been injured on the journey? Did he have anything to eat in that house? Any money to buy food? Warm clothes and blankets? Fuel for the fire?

I scanned the area for guards. Once I was sure I was alone, I took a lockpick out of my pack and started fiddling with the lock. I had been taught a little about picking locks by my parents, not because we were thieves but because we kept our money in locked chests, and keys were easy to lose. The lock was simple and I soon had the door unlocked. With a last glance around to make sure I wasn't being watched, I quietly opened the door and slipped inside.

I stood there in silence for a moment, listening for any movement in the house. Then the child's voice began speaking.

"Sweet mother, sweet mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear."

Every hair on my body stood on end. It was a child's voice, but those were words no child was ever meant to utter.

"Sweet mother, sweet mother…"

As he went through the chant again, I considered slipping back outside. I was getting in over my head.

"Please, how much longer must I do this?" the voice almost sobbed after finishing the chant. "Why won't you answer me, Night Mother? I'm so tired…"

My maternal instinct returned. The little boy needed help. Maybe he didn't want the kind of help I was prepared to offer, but I couldn't walk away now.

I rose from my crouch, did my best to flatten my fur and walked op the stairs in front of me. They turned left into the main part of the house. There was a small entryway and a larger room beyond, with a bed and a cold fireplace visible from where I stood. I walked into the room and saw a third room on the right, lit by a ring of candles on the floor.

There was a human skeleton laid out on the ground with a human heart in the middle. It was surrounded by various herbs. There was a small boy crouched beside it, stabbing the heart with a dagger as he chanted.

Some of my horror lessened as I sniffed the air and detected the scent of dirt and decay coming from the remains. The boy had robbed a grave to get them, not sacrificed a fresh victim.

"Excuse me?" I called softly as he started into the chant again.

The boy leaped excitedly to his feet. "Yes! I knew you'd come, I just knew it! An assassin from the Dark Brotherhood!"

"Ah… Well, I…" I began uncertainly.

"I performed the Black Sacrament over and over, and you finally came! Now you'll accept my contract, right?"

"You have a contract?" I asked blankly. I knew I should just back away… Drop some coins or cheese wheels on the floor on my way out…

"After my parents died, the jarl sent me to that orphanage in Riften, Honorhall," Aventus said with venom in his voice. "The woman in charge there is called Grelod the Kind, but she's not kind! She's horrible! She hardly ever lets us outside, she shackles us in this tiny room to punish us…"

"Shackles?" I asked. Suddenly I didn't feel like running away.

"Yeah, she's horrible. I want you to accept my contract and kill her."

"Are you sure you want her dead?"

"I'm more sure than I've been about anything in my life. She's a monster and doesn't deserve to live another day."

I thought about my journey from Riften, imagining a ten-year-old child making the journey alone, with all the wolves, bandits, bears and saber cats stalking the roads. Then he robbed a grave or two and performed a ritual to summon an assassin from an organization everyone feared.

How evil was this woman, if she drove a child to do all this?

I sighed heavily. "I'll see what I can do."

"Oh, thank you! But could you do it soon? To be honest, it's lonely here. I'd like to go see my friends at Honorhall again."

"I'm leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Until then, do you have enough food?"

He looked confused. "Why are you concerned about me?"

"Look, I don't kill for fun, I kill to protect the innocent and to right injustices," I said, wishing I really believed it. "I can't help but be concerned when I see orphaned children."

"Oh. Yeah, I have enough food for a week here. Once Grelod's dead, I guess I'll go back to Honorhall."

"Okay. I'll be back in a few days."

I headed back to Candlehearth Hall, forgetting all about checking out the Gray Quarter. The innkeeper showed me to the room Lydia had rented. It only had one small bed, which Sofia was sleeping soundly in. Lydia was stretched out on a deer hide on the floor, reading a book. There was a second deer hide on the floor for me.

I settled down and told Lydia about my meeting with Jarl Ulfric, about my reservations with how he seemed to not care about anyone but Nords. Much as I hated the Thalmor, I wasn't sure I wanted to support someone who might turn around and drive me out of the country once the war was over.

I didn't mention my visit with Aventus Aretino.

"Do you really have to choose a side?" Lydia asked once I had finished.

"I suppose not," I said with a shrug.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"I'll tell Sofia I'm adopting her once she wakes up. I want you to take her back to Whiterun. I'll go back to Riften."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'll be fine on my own. The road from Riften was pretty quiet. I'll take the horse, and you and Sofia can hire the carriage to take you to Whiterun. You can stay in Whiterun. Lokir and I will be back in a few days."

"What if Lokir's been sent across the country on a quest for the Thieves Guild?"

I looked away. "I'm sure I can find something to do while I'm waiting for him."

* * *

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Trenches" by Pop Evil, "Tell Me Why" by Genesis, "Both Sides of the Story" by Phil Collins, "Pleasure and Pain" by Gemini Syndrome, "This Means War" by Avenged Sevenfold

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I invariably get lost when I visit Windhelm. I have to stop regularly to consult my map. I just can't figure out the layout of that place. Like Ra'wati, it disagrees with my OCD.


	11. Comeuppance

**XI: Comeuppance**

I spent a few minutes sitting astride my horse on top of a hill, watching the carriage shrink in the distance as it carried Lydia and Sofia to Whiterun. I kept scanning the sky for dragons, but eventually I realized I was stalling. There were no dragons in sight. Gritting my teeth, I turned my horse away from the receding carriage.

Sofia had been so happy when I had told her I was adopting her. I tried to stay focused on her joy as I began the journey back to Riften. It kept my mind off my misgivings about what I was doing.

It sounded like this Grelod was a monster, a child abuser. I couldn't look the other way now that I knew what was going on. If nobody else was going to stop her and protect those children, I would.

On the other hand, this was different from the other lives I had taken. Most of them had been the result of defending myself in life-or-death situations. And the bandit leader I hunted for a bounty, well, that was sanctioned by the jarl. What I was doing now was different. Unlike all of my other kills, this was going to be a murder.

But I was protecting the children. They had not come to the orphanage by choice and could not leave until they came of age or were adopted. It wasn't right to force them into the care of someone who was so cruel to them.

But it was still going to be murder… Or was it just taking justice into my own hands when nobody else would do it? If being a good person in the eyes of the law meant I had to look the other way when children were mistreated, then I was quite fine being an outlaw.

I arrived back at Riften uneventfully as the sun was about to set. I headed around the city walls to where the stables were located to drop off my horse.

I froze when I saw the horses already stabled there. They were the most beautiful dapple gray horses I had ever seen. During my caravan days, I had seen many horses on the road, and this color had always been my favorite. I had sworn to myself that I would have a horse like that one day.

I bounced my coin purse in my hand and gritted my teeth in frustration. I could tell by its weight that I didn't have enough to buy the horse.

I turned away from the horses reluctantly, knowing that I would be hugging them if I didn't stop myself. The jarls had plenty of standing bounties on bandit leaders and dragons, I'd heard. Once Grelod was dead, I would take on bounty hunts until I had enough to buy that horse.

There were two guards standing by the city gates. One of them stepped in front of me and asked, "Where do you think you're going, Khajiit?"

"I'm a thane of Whiterun and I'm allowed here," I snapped. "Ask your jarl if you don't believe me."

"Hey, I didn't say you couldn't go in, you just have to pay the visitor tax first."

"Visitor tax?" I asked suspiciously. "Are you trying to shake me down?" Just a few weeks ago, I would have gladly paid to be allowed into a city. So much had changed since then.

"Everyone has to pay it or they don't get inside," the guard said. I could tell by his body language that he was lying.

I crossed my arms. "Oh, really? If I asked the stable hands over there, would they say the same?"

I don't know how he would have answered, because just then, we were interrupted by the sound of a dragon roaring nearby. A few seconds later, it flew over us as it circled the city. It looped around and flew back over the city walls, and I heard and felt a heavy thud as it landed inside.

"Gods, it's attacking the city!" I shouted. "Let me in!"

That was probably the last thing the guard expected me to say, but he obediently unlocked the gate for me.

I found myself on a wide cobblestone path between two rows of stone buildings. The dragon had landed further down the path, right where it opened into the main part of the city. It was breathing fire on a group of guards in front of it.

I drew my sword and approached the dragon from the left, planning to rush in and attack its flank. As I was scanning the area and readying for the charge, I happened to notice the sign above the door to the building on the left.

_Honorhall Orphanage._

If I didn't take this dragon out quickly, it could attack the orphanage. An idea occurred to me, and I was desperate enough to try it.

Sheathing my sword, I sprinted forward and leaped as high as I could. I crashed against the dragon's side and dug my claws in, climbing up onto its back. It reared up slightly and tried to shake me off, but I held on. Its head snaked around to face me. I did the only thing that came to mind and used Unrelenting Force. My Shout hit the dragon full in the face, whipping its head back around and making it stumble.

For just a few seconds, I was able to balance on the dragon's back as it recovered from what must have been like a solid punch in the face. I released my grip with my hands and drew my sword. I raised it up over my head with both hands and plunged it down into the back of the dragon's neck

The dragon's body went limp, and I just managed to leap to safety as it fell heavily onto its left side. I darted back to pull my sword free. Just to be safe, I ran up to the dragon's head and repeated my action, this time stabbing it into the back of its skull. Almost immediately, the flames began spreading over its body.

As the flames and the wind dissipated, I wearily regarded all of the astonished faces looking at me. "_Dragonborn,_" I heard some of them whispering.

"Yes, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but I'm the Dragonborn," I said reluctantly. "What you saw happen after the dragon died was something only the Dragonborn can do. But there was nothing special about killing the dragon. I just got in a lucky blow. Any one of you could have killed it. Remember that."

"There isn't anything you want for saving us?" one of the townspeople asked. "That dragon could have torn down the orphanage!"

"Well…" I said slowly. "If you'd all treat me like a fellow Nord rather than a Khajiit, I'd consider us even." I braced my foot against the dragon's skull and tugged my blade loose. "And maybe you could point me to the nearest grindstone…"

"Here, let me take care of that for you," a Nord said, coming forward to take my blade. "I'm Balimund, the town blacksmith. I'll make it good as new for you."

"Come to the Bee and Barb when you're ready. Supper will be on the house," an Argonian said.

"Thank you," I said. "Have you by any chance seen a Nord named Lokir? He would have arrived yesterday."

"He stayed at the inn last night," the Argonian said. "Looked like he was discussing something serious with Sapphire and Brynjolf. They have ties with the Thieves Guild. He left a message for a Khajiit named Ra'wati that he should be back by morning."

"Yeah, that's me," I said. I glanced back at the orphanage. "Isn't someone going to check on the children?"

"There are no scorch marks on the building."

"Yes, but… It's just my nature to be concerned about children. I can't sit down to eat until I know they're okay. I'll come to the inn in a few minutes."

I wasn't sure it was a good idea to let someone know I was going to the orphanage, but I saw no way around it. There was only one door I could see into the orphanage, on the main road, and no windows. There might have been a second door behind a tall stone wall topped with metal spikes, but it was too conspicuous to try climbing. I thought it was perfectly reasonable to enter the building on the grounds that I wanted to make sure the children were safe.

_I might not have to kill her, _I reminded myself. _Maybe we can talk this over and solve the problem without violence._

I held that thought in my head as I opened the door and stepped inside, after which my nonviolent resolve quickly shattered.

"Those who shirk their duties will receive an extra beating," I heard a woman saying from a room down the hall on the left. "And there will be no more talk of adoption. Nobody needs you. Nobody wants you. Is that clear?"

I walked down the hall and looked in to see an elderly woman talking to four small children. As she made them thank her for her kindness, I fought to keep calm. I was in danger of taking her out right here and now, with the children watching.

Grelod walked into another room and I cautiously approached the children. "Everyone okay in here?" I asked.

"No. Grelod's the meanest person I've ever met. She can't be all human. I bet she's part hagraven."

"You look kind of scary, but nobody's scarier than old Grelod."

"She was really mad when Aventus ran away. She gave us double beatings that day."

"We heard the dragon, but she wouldn't let us out to watch. She only lets us out once in the morning, in that little yard, and she stands there and watches us the whole time."

"And nobody stops here from mistreating you?" I asked.

"Constance tries, but it's not enough."

"She takes us out to walk around the town sometimes."

"And she gives us extra snacks. Grelod only gives us one meal a day, late in the afternoon."

I suppressed a growl. "Someone needs to have a word with her."

A younger Nord woman came into the room and looked me over quizzically. "Can I help you?"

"I just helped the guards kill a dragon in front of the orphanage. I needed to make sure none of the children were harmed before I went on my way."

She nodded. "We're all fine. You really should leave now. Grelod has decided not to allow adoptions, and it's cruel to get their hopes up. Besides, Grelod hates visitors."

"Why wouldn't she want them to be adopted?"

"I don't know. She's old and set in her ways. These children need love, and I do my best, but…" She shook her head and repeated, "You really should leave."

"Does she let you take them outside?"

"Sometimes. Why?"

"I thought they might like to see the dragon. It's right outside, reduced to a skeleton."

The children turned to her. "Please, Constance? Just for a minute?" they all started whispering.

Keeping her voice down, Constance said, "Oh, all right. Just for a few minutes."

I led them back outside and showed them the dragon bones. I watched for a moment as they excitedly clambered over the bones and chatted with the other townsfolk who had come to look at it, then quietly slipped away.

I walked around the side of the orphanage. The ground changed to a wooden walkway with a railing overlooking the water a full story below. Riften appeared to have been built on the edge of a sort of small cliff overlooking the water, with wooden walkways and platforms built out over the water. But I wasn't concerned with what was below me at the moment.

Glancing back to make sure everyone was still fixated on the dragon bones, I climbed over the railing. The platform the orphanage partially rested on extended a foot or so beyond the building, just wide enough for me to creep across. Being a giant cat had its advantages. From there I dug my claws into the building's log wall and climbed up onto the shingled roof. Pretending I was stalking an elk, I climbed up to the peak of the triangular roof. Down below, I could see into the small yard enclosed by the stone wall with iron spikes on top. I crept down the roof and dropped silently to the ground inside the yard.

I slipped inside the door and found myself back in the room where Grelod had been addressing the children. I held still and pricked my ears, listening for the sound of her breathing, but she suddenly appeared in the room.

"What are you doing in here?" she snarled. "Get out!"

"I was just checking on the children…" I began.

"Well, there's no need to. Now get out before I call the guards!" She turned away from me and walked over to the soup pot in front of the fireplace in the room.

I slowly walked up to her. I noticed a pair of double doors on the wall on her left. They were opened slightly, and I could see a set of wrist shackles mounted on the wall, low down, just the right height to use on a small child.

I reached for my sword, then remembered I had given it tot the blacksmith to be sharpened. I quickly felt around in my pack. The only other weapon I had was an iron dagger. It would have to do.

I walked up behind her. "Those children don't deserve to be treated that way," I said softly.

"What do you care? You have no business here."

I took a deep breath. "Actually, I do. Aventus Aretino sent me."

"Aretino? Well, you can tell him I'm coming for him, and when I find him, it will be the beating of his miserable life…"

I reached around with my left hand, grabbed her around the jaw and jerked her head to one side. She barely had time to make a sound before I had plunged the dagger into the right side of her neck. I shoved her forward as I backed away. I managed to avoid getting any blood on myself, other than what had gotten on my right hand. I quickly wiped it off on her dress.

As the heat of my anger cooled off, I realized that maybe I shouldn't have killed her out in the open. She'd be found almost as soon as Constance returned. I considered dragging her into that room with the shackles, but then noticed the blood pooling on the floor. No, there was no point hiding the body. I needed to get out of here.

I slipped back out the door into the walled yard and climbed back onto the roof. Everyone was still looking at the dragon bones and discussing their mysterious return. I climbed up over the top of the roof, started down the other side, then realized I might have a problem.

Walking along that narrow ledge was one thing, trying to land on it was another. One slip and I'd be in the water below.

I crept over to the corner and looked down at the railing. That might be easier to get my feet on. I turned around, laid down on my stomach and slowly slid back off the roof, stretching my legs down to find the railing.

I relaxed as my feet touched the railing. I paused to steady myself, then slowly turned around. There was a break in the railing to accommodate stairs leading to the level below, then the railing resumed, leading to a bridge leading across the water and encircling a raised wooden platform in the center of town that housed the merchant stalls.

_I wonder how much of the town I could reach by walking on the railing, _I thought mischievously. I hopped across the gap and landed nimbly on the next section of railing.

"Hey, what are you doing up there?" a startled guard called.

I turned my head quickly in mid-stride to look at him and lost my balance. I spent a second swaying and waving my arms, trying to regain my balance, before falling over backwards off the railing. I hit the set of steps below, bounced off, landed halfway on a wooden fishing boat and slid off into the water.

I dug my claws into the side of the boat to keep my head above the water as my vision clouded, each breath seeming to make it worse. Next thing I knew, several people had grabbed me and pulled me out of the water. Then they were healing me, and my vision cleared enough for me to tell that they were Riften guards.

"Sorry about that," one of them said sheepishly.

I shrugged. "Narrowly escaping a dangerous situation always makes me want to do childish things."

They helped me to my feet. The fall had given me a fair amount of bruises, but no serious wounds, so I thanked them for their help and headed back up the stairs to find the blacksmith.

I collected my newly-sharpened sword from the blacksmith and sold my surplus gear, then headed to the inn. I was a bit surprised to see it was owned by an Argonian. Maybe Riften would open up to my people soon.

"Well, if it isn't the Dragonborn!" the owner said as I walked up to the counter.

I gritted my teeth involuntarily. "Yeah, that's me," I sighed.

"Something wrong? Did you not want everyone to know?"

"No, I don't mind, I just… I'd like people to see me as a Khajiit first. I'd like to see my people allowed in the cities like everyone else."

She nodded knowingly. "Keep saving us from dragons and maybe the Nords will come to their senses. For now, I hear you were promised a free meal tonight."

"I'm more than ready for it," I said. "Have you seen a Nord named Lokir? I heard he stayed here last night."

"Yeah, I remember him. He's supposed to be back in the morning."

"I was supposed to meet up with him, but I forgot to run an errand while I was in Windhelm. I'm heading back there once I've eaten. When you see him, could you tell him I'll be back by dusk tomorrow?"

She agreed, and I sat down and waited for my supper. I wanted to eat it leisurely and take a nap afterwards, but I needed to let Aventus know Grelod was dead, and Lokir wouldn't want to come to Windhelm to do it. So I wolfed my food down and left.

I noticed Constance and the children were nowhere in sight as I crossed the bridge beside where I had fallen. Then the door to the orphanage burst open and Constance came running out, screaming incoherently, followed by the children, who were laughing and cheering.

One of the guards ran over to talk to them, heard they had found Grelod murdered inside, then turned to me suspiciously. "Weren't you just in there?"

"No, it wasn't her," one of the boys said. "We saw her the whole time. She didn't go near Grelod."

"It was the Dark Brotherhood!" a little girl shouted gleefully. "Aventus Aretino said he was going to summon the Dark Brotherhood to deal with her, and he did it!"

The guard nodded, looking uneasy. "If it's the work of the Dark Brotherhood… Maybe we should stay out of this."

I watched the children skip off gleefully again. "They don't look like they just found their caretaker murdered," I observed. "What did she do to make them hate her so much?"

"Hey, I know what you mean," the guard said casually. As I turned to leave, he leaned over my shoulder and whispered in my ear, "_Hail Sithis!_"

I looked back at him, equal parts startled and confused. He just gave me a knowing smile and turned away.

I didn't know what that meant, but something told me he suspected I had done it and was letting me get away with it. I decided I should leave before he changed his mind.

I headed back outside and collected my horse. As I began the trip north, I noticed smoke in the air. It appeared to be coming from a large island in the middle of the lake on my left. I could see the glow of several fires on the island that looked too big to be campfires. I briefly wondered if it had something to do with Lokir, then turned away. It wasn't likely to reach the mainland, so it was none of my concern.

* * *

**SOUNDTRACK**: "The Wrong Side of Heaven" and "Bulletproof" by Five Finger Death Punch, "Just A Job To Do" by Genesis, "Let This Go" by Five Finger Death Punch, "Old Friend" by Disturbed, "Bully" by Shinedown, "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark" by Fallout Boy

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: I was physically abused almost daily throughout my childhood by my sociopathic half-brother, so I actually loved the quest to assassinate Grelod the Kind. I didn't want anyone to kill him, but I wanted so badly to get away from him, and nobody would protect me. Living vicariously through video game quests, y'know.

I had a similar reaction the first time I saw the horses at the Riften stables. Dapple gray is one of my favorite horse colors.

I've always had a tendency to stumble if I turned my head to the right too fast while walking, and sometimes to fall over if I did it while standing up. I just thought I was clumsy. Then last year I read about a study where two-eyed, one-eyed, and blind people had their balance tested. The study included people who had been blind or one-eyed for years and had fully adjusted to it. (Tangential pet peeve: Scientists who think studying people immediately after they lose an eye or having two-eyed people cover an eye for the study will give them meaningful results about how people with long-term stereoblindness see the world.) The study suggested having one eye has a negative impact on balance, and being blind impacts it further. So it's possible my clumsiness is caused by my monocular state.

In light of this, I've decided to give Ra'wati my balance issues. I wasn't going to, because I despise the way the media portrays one-eyed people as clumsy solely for comic relief. (Didn't their parents ever teach them not to mock disabled people?) But I wanted to show what it's really like to be one-eyed with depth perception, and this is something I actually have to deal with. Bumping into things, no; minor loss of balance associated with rapid head-turning, yes.


	12. Cold Blood

**XII: Cold Blood**

I was unusually weary when I dismounted at the Windhelm stables again. It had been almost an entire day since I had slept. Maybe I'd spend a few hours at Candlehearth Hall once I had given Aventus Aretino the news.

The gate guard nodded to me as he stepped out of my way. I nodded back, glad I didn't have to make a scene again to get inside the city.

I didn't want to go straight to the Aretino residence, so it was a good thing the city had such a confusing layout. I got lost but managed to act like I was casually sightseeing as I tried to figure out my way around. After a suitably long time, I found my destination. I surreptitiously picked the lock and slipped inside again while the guards weren't looking.

I crept up the steps in his house quietly in case there were guards waiting for me, but he was the only one inside, lying on the bed with a book. "Aretino," I called softly.

He hopped up excitedly. "You're back! Did you do it?"

"Yes, she's dead," I said solemnly.

"Oh, thank you!" He frowned, looking around the room thoughtfully. "Now I have to pay you, right?"

"Well, I don't…" I began.

He ignored me and ran over to a cupboard, pulling out a large fancy dish. "Here, you can have this. It's a family heirloom. It should be worth a few septims."

He pushed the dish into my hands. I turned it over a few times and tucked it under my arm. "Thanks," I said uncertainly.

"I'll go back to the orphanage in a week or two. I have a few things to deal with here first."

"Like that?" I asked, waving at the human remains still laid out on the floor.

"Yeah, I need to sneak those back into their graves tonight."

"Okay. Just… be careful," I said weakly, turning to go.

He turned his back on me then, turning his attention to a cheese wheel, so he didn't see me slip his family heirloom into the nearest dresser drawer before I went back outside.

While I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders, I still felt bone-tired, so I went to Candlehearth Hall and rented a room, asking them to wake me in four hours. I awoke feeling somewhat rested and wishing I could sleep longer, but I wanted to meet up with Lokir by nightfall.

As I headed out of Candlehearth Hall, I remembered how I had never checked out the Gray Quarter. I growled softly. I really wanted to be on my way, but it should only take a few minutes.

I went back the way I had gone when I first saw Sofie, continuing past where she had been sleeping, taking the path that sloped down. I soon noticed how much dirtier the street was here. The walls were dirty too. I stopped in front of the first door I came to. _New Gnisis Cornerclub, _it said.

I paused and smiled wistfully, remembering my parents reading me stories about Grandmother Ma'hini traveling to Gnisis and going to cornerclubs in Morrowind. Too bad Red Mountain was erupting, I mused, or maybe I could go there someday. It almost seemed like my homeland, since I really had no other.

I put those thoughts out of my head. Balmora and Vivec had been destroyed, the Nerevarine's Morrowind was gone and there was no sense pining over it. Right now, I needed to go in there and ask the Dunmer how they were faring in Windhelm.

"Excuse me!" someone called as I was reaching for the doorknob.

I jumped and turned back the way I had come, where a Nord man was approaching me. "Are you Ra'wati?" he asked.

"Yes," I said cautiously.

"I have a letter addressed to you," he said, reaching in his pack and pulling one out. He handed it to me and ran off immediately.

_Must be from Lokir, _I thought as I opened it.

My face probably went pale under my fur as I read the message.

_We know, _it said below a drawing of a black hand. No signature, nothing else.

Wasn't the black hand the symbol of the Dark Brotherhood?

I looked frantically up and down the alley, but nobody was in sight. Even the courier was gone, off to make another delivery. But I suddenly felt paranoid. Was somebody in the city spying on me? Did Ulfric know what I had done for Aventus Aretino?

I turned away from the door to the cornerclub. I had to get back to Riften, to Lokir. I didn't feel safe on my own right now.

I headed back out of Windhelm as fast as I could without looking like I was about to run, mounted my horse and took off as fast as I could make her go. I kept up a hard pace all the way back to Riften, regularly leaning down and murmuring apologies in the horse's ear and promising her large amounts of apples and carrots if she kept the pace up.

I slowed her to a walk as we approached Riften in late afternoon. I was very drowsy at this point, so it took a moment for me to notice that Lokir's horse was waiting at the stable. That meant he was back in Riften.

I quickly dropped my horse off and gave the stablehand a couple coins to tend to her and give her some apples. I trotted back to the gates, receiving no challenge from the guards this time, and headed for the Bee and Barb, hoping Lokir was taking a break from his Thieves Guild duties.

"Ra'wati!" Lokir called almost as soon as I opened the door. I jumped like a draugr had just appeared in front of me. Lokir rose from his table and ran over to me. He put his hands on my shoulders, held me at arm's length and looked me over critically. "You look like something spooked you real bad," he observed.

"Ah, well, I was afraid of going up against a dragon on my way back here. I've barely slept since the night before last." I coughed meaningfully.

He got my hint to ask me later. He gave me a two-second hug and pulled away. "Where's Lydia?"

"We found an orphan girl sleeping on the ground in Windhelm, so I had Lydia take her back to Whiterun. I told her to wait there until we returned."

"Sounds like we have a lot to catch each other up on." He turned back to the table, where I noticed a dark-haired Nord woman seated, watching us. "Will that be all, Sapphire?"

"Yes," she said, rising. "You know where to find me if you need anything."

"I heard about the dragon," Lokir said casually as he led me up the stairs and to the room he had rented. "You just can't keep a low profile, can you?"

"It was right beside the orphanage. What was I supposed to do, let the guards handle it?" I sank wearily down onto one of the beds.

He pushed the door closed and came to sit down on a chair beside me. He leaned in close, lowered his voice to a whisper, and asked, "Okay, what's really bothering you? You took out Grelod, didn't you?"

"How did you…?" I began.

"I see how concerned you are about the welfare of children, and they said she was found dead shortly after you showed up and killed the dragon."

I hesitated, then pulled the letter out of my pack. "I did it, but that's not what's bothering me. A courier brought this to me in Windhelm this morning."

He went pale when he looked at the letter. "Of all the people you've killed, why do the Dark Brotherhood care about Grelod?"

I wearily told him what had happened since we last saw each other.

"You just can't stay out of trouble on your own, can you?" he asked with a resigned laugh.

"Your presence wouldn't have changed my decision to kill her," I pointed out.

He shrugged. "I might have insisted on being the one to kill her."

"Maybe. So, what have you been up to?"

I listened drowsily as he told me about having to frame someone for theft to become a member of the Thieves Guild, after which he assured me he was going to bail the innocent Dunmer out first thing in the morning. Once he had been initiated, he had been asked to collect money owed to the Guild from local shopkeepers, then to burn three beehives on an island in the lake. He started to tell me how that quest had gone, how he had started out by trying to sneak through a sewer occupied by a hostile mage that almost killed him, then he noticed how tired I looked.

"We can finish catching up in the morning," he said, standing up. "You go ahead and rest. I don't think the Dark Brotherhood will try anything in the middle of a crowded inn."

"I hope not," I muttered as I pulled my armor off and curled up under the blankets.

* * *

Next thing I knew, I seemed to have rolled out of the bed onto the floor. And although I could hear a fire crackling nearby, it was very cold in the room. Other than that, everything was lost in a thick haze. I rolled onto my stomach and tried to push myself up, but my limbs gave out and I fell over.

"_Here, drink this,_" I heard someone say, as if we were underwater. Someone put a flask into my hand. I obediently drank it down, and everything began to come into focus.

As my thoughts began organizing themselves, I thought about giving Lokir a stern lecture about letting the fire burn out while I was asleep. Then the haze obscuring my vision lifted, and I realized I wasn't in the inn anymore. I was in some old abandoned house, by the looks of it. The walls and roof were full of holes, allowing the freezing wind to blow in. The floor wasn't in much better shape.

"Sleep well?" someone asked snidely from in front of me. I looked over at the corner, where a woman dressed all in black was perched on top of an old bookshelf.

"What do you want? Where's Lokir?" I asked, looking around frantically. Over to my left, I saw three figures kneeling on the floor. But the drug was still hazing my vision, and I couldn't make out much about them yet.

I patted myself, taking inventory of my possessions and cursing my decision to take off my armor before I went to sleep. But I still had my pack and my weapons. Four against one and I had no armor… Well, I had faced worse odds against the Thalmor…

_And only won by resorting to cannibalism, _I reminded myself. Or did a Khajiit feeding on an Altmer count as cannibalism? Now was not the time to worry with that.

"Your friend's still back in Riften," she continued in the same tone. "Don't worry about him. He never saw us."

"How did you manage that?"

"We have our ways. But surely you know that's not what I brought you here to discuss."

I sighed. "This is about Grelod the Kind, isn't it?"

She laughed. "Ah, yes. You did good work with her. Killed her cleanly, didn't get caught, and saved all those poor children in the process, didn't you?"

"I only did it to save the children," I growled. "She didn't deserve to live."

"I'm not criticizing your actions. You did well on your first assassination. But… well, we have a problem."

"Aventus Aretino wanted someone to kill her, and I took care of it. You should have gotten there faster."

"That's not how this works. He performed the Black Sacrament. By doing so, he entered into a contract with us. A contract which you stole."

I fought the urge to start lashing my tail in irritation. "He paid me with a plate. Are you really that short on dinnerware? I can go back and get it for you, if you'd like."

"If we were killers for money like the old Morag Tong, that's what I'd be discussing with you. But when you make a contract with the Dark Brotherhood, you also make a contract with Sithis, lord of the Void. You stole a kill from him, so you have to repay it."

"What do I have to do to repay it?" I asked warily, gripping my sword hilt.

She laughed. "Don't worry, he doesn't want your life. He wants you to make a kill for us."

I looked over at the three kneeling figures. My vision had cleared enough that I could now tell they were all bound and wearing black hoods covering their faces. My stomach sank as I asked, "You want me to kill one of them?"

"Yes, one of them has a contract on their head. Go talk to them, figure out which one it is, and take care of it. Then I'll give you the key to the door, and we can both leave. But neither of us is leaving until one of them dies."

"What if I kill the wrong one?"

"The contract still has to be fulfilled. An innocent life won't change that. Go on, now. I'll be up here watching."

I got to my feet slowly. Whatever she had given me to drink had finally burned away whatever had been used to drug me. I felt normal again.

I looked up at her for a moment. She had the key. What if I killed her instead? But after sizing her up, I got the feeling I would lose. She didn't look like the common bandits I had been fighting. This was someone who had spent their life training to be an assassin.

If I fought her and lost, I doubted she would let any of the prisoners free. Better one of them die than all three, right?

_Coward, _I thought to myself as I turned to face the prisoners again. _There's only one person in this room I know deserves to die, and I'm too afraid to face her._

I walked up to the first of the prisoners, an armored Nord man. "You," I said, leaning close to his face so he'd know I was addressing him. "Who are you?"

"I'm Fultheim," he said in a quavering voice. "Fultheim the Fearless, they call me. I'm a mercenary, a sellsword. That's… well, there's really not much more I can say about myself."

"Who typically hires you? Do you have any restrictions?"

"Well, I… I don't work for bandits. I help people explore old ruins and…" His voice started to break. "Oh, please, can't you just let me go? I've done nothing to you…!"

I coughed loudly, and he fell silent. "Would anyone pay the Dark Brotherhood to kill you?"

"I… I don't know… Maybe? I've killed a lot of people… Their families might want revenge… Oh, please, I don't want to die!"

I coughed again. "Just calm down. I haven't chosen you yet," I said in the gentlest tone I could muster.

I could imagine someone wanting him dead. Even bandits had families who cared for them. But I wasn't so different from him that way.

The second person was a middle-aged Nord woman. I walked over to her, leaned down and asked, "You, miss, who are you?"

"That's none of your business!" she snarled.

I winced, surprised at the venom in her voice. She didn't sound like she was a prisoner at my mercy. "Look, I'm trying to find out…"

"If you're going to kill me, just do it already!"

"Lady, I'm trying to decide which one of you I have to kill. It might be in your best interests to…"

"I don't have time to be _nice,_" she interrupted. "If I didn't have this hood on, by Mara, I swear I'd spit in your face!"

I backed away from her. I could easily see someone getting tired of her attitude and wanting her dead. But I had to admire her spirit.

The third prisoner was a male Khajiit. I had seen so few of my people since my parents had been murdered… But I couldn't think about that now. "Who are you?" I asked him.

"I am Vasha," he said. "Obtainer of goods, taker of lives, and defiler of daughters. How is it another Khajiit has not heard of me?"

"I've stayed away from the criminal world before now," I muttered. "Would someone pay to have you killed?"

He laughed. "I can see you truly don't know who I am. Not a day goes by that an attempt is not made on my life. But if you knew who I was, you would also know that I can have my men hunt you down and butcher you in the streets like an animal."

I turned away and began pacing while I thought. It sounded like he was some kind of crime boss or bandit leader. Could someone have gotten tired of waiting for one of the assassination attempts to work and hired the Dark Brotherhood? Or would it make more sense to sit back and wait for one of the common assassins to finally succeed? Surely it was just a matter of time.

I looked over at Fultheim. He said he had killed a lot of people, and it would only take one with a sufficiently devoted family to have a contract placed on his head.

I looked at the unnamed woman. With a personality like hers, I couldn't imagine her having any friends. She would make a lot of enemies. But was it enough to make someone want her dead?

I looked at Vasha. Did any of the jarls have a bounty on his head? Would it make sense to go through with the Black Sacrament if he did? It was just a matter of time before the bounty attracted a skilled warrior…

_Defiler of daughters, _I thought, clenching my teeth. That didn't sound consensual. I thought back to the bandit attack on my caravan… _I can't let my experiences cloud my judgment, _I reminded myself.

I paced for another moment, weighing my options. If I chose wrong, I'd have to go back and kill another of them.

Finally I drew my sword and silently approached Vasha. It had to be him. If he was a bandit leader, he spent his life hurting innocent people. He was far more likely to attract a Dark Brotherhood contract than a common mercenary or mouthy woman.

And if I was wrong, well, it sounded like he deserved to die anyway.

Before I could change my mind, I raised my sword with both hands and chopped his head off.

I stood over his body panting for a moment. Why was I panting? How could I be out of breath from one swing? I shook my head, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge what was really going on.

"Well done," the assassin called. "I can see why you chose him. Someone with his lifestyle was bound to anger the wrong person, wasn't he?"

I turned to face her. "Was he the one?"

She laughed. "Oh, don't bother with that. Right or wrong doesn't matter now. What matters is I told you to kill someone, and you obeyed me."

I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Was there even a contract in the first place?"

She just laughed again. "Does it matter? I can see you enjoyed it."

"What are you talking about?" I snarled, feigning ignorance to the end.

"Don't pretend you don't know. I could tell the moment you made your choice. I could see it in your eyes. The anticipation, the excitement. You can talk like you don't enjoy killing, but your body gives you away."

"I… I don't…" I faltered.

"You smile right before you strike a deathblow. Did you realize that?"

I took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out slowly. There was no point in denying it anymore. "Yes, I noticed," I almost whispered, looking at the floor and letting my shoulders slump.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of. You were meant to be an assassin. I'd like to extend an invitation to you to join the Dark Brotherhood. You'll fit right in, and it pays well."

I looked back up at her. "You want me to join you, after all this? What makes you think I won't go to the guards?"

"All those poor little orphans in Riften," she said casually. "I bet you'd love to take them all in. Too bad your house in Whiterun only has room for two children, and you already took in those two little girls."

"Okay, okay," I growled, beginning to lash my tail. "You want me to join you. Where should I meet you?"

She tossed me a roll of paper with a key tucked inside. "Here's a map, and the key to this shack. When you find our hideout, the passphrase is 'Silence, my brother.' We'll be waiting for you."

"It might be a week or two," I grumbled.

She thought she had won. I'd let her believe that. I'd do what she wanted for now. I'd go to her hideout and join the Dark Brotherhood. But one day I was going to make her deeply regret what she had done to me.

She rose without another word and climbed through a hole in the roof. I lashed my tail again, realizing I could have escaped that way.

No, then what would have happened to the prisoners?

I turned back to them and approached cautiously. They had just heard me kill someone, followed by me admitting that murder excited me. They were bound to be even more terrified now.

"Don't panic," I said. "I'm going to let you two go now."

I walked up to Fultheim first. He was making a soft whimpering sound. "I'm going to take your hood off," I said gently, but he still practically screamed in terror when he felt my fingers touch his neck. "I'm not going to hurt you," I said in the same tone as I pulled the hood off his head, and I kept repeating it softly as I walked behind him, drew my dagger and cut his bonds. He tried to lunge forward, away from me, but fell on his stomach. He rolled onto his side and sat there watching me, alternately rubbing his wrists and lower legs, as I walked over to the woman.

I started to reach for her hood, then changed my mind. As soon as it came off, she'd start spitting, and my shield was back at the inn in Riften. I cut her bonds and backed away, leaving her to deal with the hood herself.

It appeared her legs had fallen asleep too. She stayed on the floor and rubbed them as I darted to the other side of the room. "You ought to be ashamed!" she shouted at me. "Kidnapping a woman from her home! I've got six kids to care for!"

"Hey, I had nothing to do with that," I said as I looked around for something to use as a spit-guard. I picked up a rectangular wooden dish from a table and held it ready. "Maybe you didn't pick up on it, but I was kidnapped, too."

I quickly introduced myself and explained about Grelod and Aventus Aretino, hoping a mother of six would be sympathetic. Thankfully, she calmed down when she heard my motives. "All right, I guess I can't blame you," she growled reluctantly.

"So you're just… You're going to let us go now?" Fultheim asked, his voice quavering.

"Yes, you're free to go," I assured him. I paused. "But I have no idea where we are. I don't hear any people out there, so I doubt we're in a town. Maybe we should stick together until we get to safety."

"Yes, you probably shouldn't be wandering around unknown territory on your own without armor," Fultheim observed.

I looked down at my clothes and sighed. "I took my armor off before I went to sleep. Now I wish I'd kept it on."

The woman cleared her throat impatiently. "I don't want to travel on my own either if I don't know where we are, but are we going to be safe around you? You're not going to attack us for fun?"

I started growling low in my throat and forced myself to stop. "Maybe I do enjoy killing. Maybe it excites me like nothing else. But that's not something I have any control over. What I _do _have control over are my own actions. I have never attacked anyone who didn't attack me first, or who I didn't know was involved in attacking innocent people. As long as you don't try to kill me, you're safe, and I'll fight to protect you."

"You're in complete control?" Fultheim asked, sounding like he needed to be reassured.

I decided to be honest with them. They already knew too much about me. "Yes, both as I am now and as a werewolf. I may have been more violent as a werewolf, and had urges to do things to dead bodies that I would never consider normally, but I was in complete control of who I attacked."

"You're a werewolf?" they asked simultaneously.

I shrugged. "Yes, and I'm also the Dragonborn, but I don't like making a big deal about it. Can you walk yet?"

They just stared at me for a long time, long enough that I expected them to turn me down. But then Fultheim got unsteadily to his feet. "All right, let's see where we are."

I unlocked the door and let him out first. The light that came in through the door was muted. I couldn't tell if it was late afternoon or just very overcast. Outside, we seemed to be in a marsh beside a river. What little I could make out about the landscape through the heavy fog didn't look familiar.

Fultheim was scanning the distant mountains. "I'd say we're somewhere in Hjaalmarch," he said slowly. "It's always so foggy around Morthal…" He slowly walked around the side of the dilapidated shack we had been imprisoned in. "Oh, I know where we are!" he suddenly called excitedly. "That's the Blue Palace of Solitude on that cliff way over there!"

I ran over to him and looked where he was pointing. I could just barely make out some sort of structure on a cliff up in the air, but most of it was swallowed by mist. I pulled out my map.

"We're a long way from Riften," I sighed. "Might as well go there and take a carriage back. What about you? Where do you need to go?"

"I don't really have anywhere to go," he said after a moment. "I just go where my current client needs me and sleep wherever I can find an empty bed or a safe camping spot."

"Isn't Solitude the biggest city in Skyrim? You should be able to find work there." I turned to the south. "Are there any other landmarks? I'd like to know roughly where we are on my map."

"Morthal should be a short walk south of us. Might even be closer than Solitude, but there's not much to see there," he said. He turned to face east. "Dawnstar is a long way to the east, at least a day's walk I'd guess." He looked over my shoulder at my map, then back east. "Oh, you have Ustengrav marked on your map? I believe that's it southeast of us."

I looked where he indicated. I could faintly make out a ring of stone pillars through the mist. "Ustengrav? Is that the burial tomb of Jurgen Windcaller?"

"I think so," he said, seeming confused that I knew that.

I started to lash my tail in irritation. "I was asked to retrieve an item from Jurgen Windcaller's tomb. It's sort of important." I sighed, looking back at my map. "Why does it have to be out here in the middle of nowhere? I'll have to go all the way to Riften to get Lokir and my armor now, and then come all the way back… This might take days…" I grumbled mostly to myself.

"Ah… Well…" Fultheim said cautiously, then continued in a rush, "I could come with you, and we could get the item now."

I just blinked at him, too startled to respond.

"You didn't have to let me go," he continued. "You could have killed me, or just left me tied up there. I owe you. If you'll let me repay you by helping you with your quest, I'll gladly do it."

I frowned. "Well, it would certainly save me a lot of time to clear it out while we're right beside it…" I looked him up and down. "But you're unarmed and I'm unarmored. That's a recipe for failure."

"There's usually nothing but draugr and maybe skeevers or frostbite spiders in those old tombs. We could sneak in, take out the first draugr we find, you take its armor, I take its weapons, and we could go from there. There's bound to be better stuff farther in."

"That might work…" I said thoughtfully.

"You're not just going to leave me here!" the angry woman called from the shack's doorway. "If you're going tomb-raiding, I'm coming with you!"

"Are you sure?" Fultheim asked meekly. "It's not likely to be safer down there…"

"Yes, I'm sure!" she snarled, making him cower. "I've got six kids and no husband to help me protect them, so I learned some offensive spells. I can handle a few draugr."

I thought back to the last fight in Dustman's Cairn. That had been a lot more than a few draugr. But it would be nice to have a mage by my side.

"Well, if you're sure, miss…" I said, hoping she'd remember she never told me her name.

She let out a sigh that was half snarl. "Alea Quintus."

"All right," I said, putting my map away. "Let's go fight some draugr."

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Somebody's Watching Me" by Raunchy (it's a remake), "Another Way Out" by Hollywood Undead, "Where is the Edge" and "It's the Fear" by Within Temptation, "Walk Away From the Sun" by Seether, "Welcome to the Family" by Avenged Sevenfold, "Pay For This" by Gemini Syndrome, "The Night" by Disturbed.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Had I originally planned to write a novelization of Skyrim's storyline, I would have had Ra'wati kill Astrid here. But I started out with the sole intention of writing an original story about the torture victims in the Dawnstar Sanctuary. Maybe it's better this way. Becoming an assassin helps with Ra'wati's downward spiral into moral ambiguity.

I wasn't originally planning on having her go after the horn just yet, but then I noticed how close Ustengrav is to the Abandoned Shack. Having her go after it now, despite being so ill-prepared, fits with her impatient and impulsive nature.


	13. Spiders and Skeletons

**XIII: Spiders and Skeletons**

We found a small boat tied up at the edge of the river between us and Ustengrav. Since we were in no real hurry, we used the boat to cross. I was too hungry and cold without my armor to relish a swim in the icy river just then.

A short walk ahead, Ustengrav's door was set inside a circular depression in the ground ringed by pillars, similar to Dustman's Cairn. We crept up to the edge slowly and peered down into the pit.

Amidst numerous wooden crates and a treasure chest, a Nord lay sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood.

I hurried down first and knelt beside the Nord to check on him, but he was clearly dead. He had died fairly recently, though. "Either he made one of his companions mad, or someone decided to explore Ustengrav and clear out its current inhabitants," I observed as I rolled him over and discovered two broken arrows lodged in his chest.

Fultheim walked over to the treasure chest and tried to open it. "It's locked. If someone came here looking for treasure, why didn't they open it?"

"Maybe they didn't have any lockpicks?" I offered. I noticed a knapsack on the ground near the dead body and rifled through it, finding a few lockpicks, a handful of gold coins and a goat cheese wheel.

"Or maybe a draugr did it?" Alea suggested.

Fultheim knelt beside the body and worked one of the arrow out. "No, this is a steel arrow," he said. "Draugr usually use a different type."

I took one of the lockpicks and quickly had the chest open. Inside I found several mage robes and an iron sword, as well as a few more gold coins. "I was hoping there'd be some armor in here," I grumbled.

"You could always take his armor," Fultheim suggested, nudging the dead Nord with his foot.

I wrinkled my nose at the blood-drenched leather armor. "No, thanks. I actually won a fight against six Thalmor while wearing no armor. I'll take my chances."

They looked at me warily. "What did the Thalmor have against you?" Alea asked.

"They didn't approve of the Talos amulet I wear in memory of my dead mother," I sighed. "I tried to talk them down, but they wouldn't listen." I bundled the mage robes into the knapsack and held it out to Fultheim. "You want to carry this, since you're the strongest?"

He took the knapsack and emptied all the crates into it, then armed himself with the iron sword from the treasure chest, and we crept through the door into Ustengrav.

I led the way, since I saw best in the dark. I scanned the large, long cavern we found ourselves in slowly. I saw no movement and heard nothing but distant water dripping, though I noticed several more bodies lying on the floor at the far end of the cavern.

I rose from my crouch and walked cautiously over to the bodies. Several more Nords and a pair of draugr were scattered around the floor, all with the same steel arrows lodged in their bodies.

"Looks like someone decided to clear out the bandits," Fultheim said. He started removing a set of chain mail from one of the corpses. "I wonder why they didn't pick over the bodies?"

"There's something odd about it," I agreed. Had someone else decided to take the horn? What would I do if they had?

I took the chainmail Fultheim offered, since it was less messy than the leather armor on the body outside. Fultheim found a steel battleaxe and a bow and arrows. Alea also took a bow and arrows, but she had no interest in the armor or weapons. We also found two more knapsacks. We took a moment to split the loot evenly, then resumed our journey.

I led the way very slowly and cautiously. I kept remembering that last room in Dustman's Cairn, the swarm of draugr that almost killed us. I kept expecting to be ambushed again. But we only found two live draugr on the first floor of Ustengrav. Every other draugr had been killed already.

We went through another door to the lower level, where the tunnel led to a huge cavern with a waterfall and a stream running through it, and a hole in the roof high above that allowed enough light for a tree to grow in the middle of the room. We were on a higher level, overlooking the room through a hole in the wall. The winding tunnel ahead sloped down, meandering down to an opening on the ground level below. I listened carefully, but I didn't hear anything alive in the tunnels, so I led the way more confidently.

I suddenly heard a strange creaking noise coming from the tunnel ahead. I had never heard it before, but it almost sounded like creaking wood, so I kept going and rounded the corner.

A human skeleton wielding a longsword was standing in the tunnel in front of me. I made an involuntary choking sound as all of my muscles seemed to lock up. Every thought escaped my mind and I couldn't remember what I was supposed to be doing as I watched the skeleton raise its sword with a hiss.

Something struck me in the back and I toppled forward. As I hit the ground, I heard the impact of a weapon against bone, then the sound of the top half of the skeleton smashing against the tunnel roof. The loose bones rained down in front of me and clattered on down the tunnel.

Alea knelt beside me. "Are you okay?" she asked, sounding both concerned and annoyed.

"Yeah," I said shakily as I pushed myself into a sitting position. "I don't know what happened…"

Fultheim looked at me and asked, "Is it possible you're afraid of skeletons?"

I just looked at him with my mouth open for a moment, looked down at the loose bones strewn down the tunnel ahead, then back at him. "I don't know. I've never fought one before…" My whole body started shaking, and I hunched over and hugged myself. "By the Nine, I've killed too many dragons to be afraid of a skeleton!"

As I sat there shivering, I realized Fultheim and Alea had never seen me fight before. I must look like such a coward right now. I took a deep breath and forced myself to my feet. "I swear I've never had a reaction like that before," I said quickly. "I don't normally freeze up in battle."

Fultheim gave me another long look, then shrugged and turned away. "Everyone's afraid of something silly, I suppose. I'll lead the way. There might be more of them."

I kicked one of the loose bones at my feet. "Was I hearing things, or did the skeleton hiss at me? How is that even possible?"

"Eh, don't over-think it," Fultheim said dismissively.

Another creaking-wood sound came from up ahead, I shuddered and hung back as Fultheim trotted forward to deal with it.

My feelings of self-loathing faded as we entered the huge cavern and I realized I could hear the familiar chanting over the rushing of the water. I scanned the area and saw a Word Wall in the middle of the room through the mist rising from the stream.

"Look, there's a treasure chest up there," Alea observed, pointing. "How is anyone supposed to reach that?"

There were several thick stone pillars reaching from floor to ceiling. Most of them had stone walkways built between then, with pathways encircling the pillars. They led to a platform carved out of the wall with a treasure chest resting on it. The path to the first pillar had collapsed, but part of it remained, pointing up at the path like a ramp.

"I have an idea," I said thoughtfully. I sprinted up the ramp. As my foot pushed off the edge of the ramp, I shouted, "_Wuld!" _As I had hoped, I went flying through the air and landed on the edge of the inaccessible stone path. "Yes, it worked!" I shouted triumphantly, looking down at Fultheim and Alea.

They were both looking up at me with their mouths open.

"Er, yeah, I learned that from the Greybeards," I called down. "Sit tight, I think I can reach that chest." I crossed the stone path, using Whirlwind Sprint when I came to a broken path, and reached the chest. I found a fireball staff and a couple hundred gold coins, added them to my knapsack, and Sprinted my way back across the pillars and hopped to the ground.

Fultheim and Alea looked to be at a loss for words. Finally Fultheim said faintly, "So… When you said you were the Dragonborn…"

"Yeah, I can see how you thought I was just being snide," I said with a nod. I turned to face the Word Wall. "If you're still not sure, this should convince you."

I took off for the Word Wall at a run, my spirits lightening as I finally felt like I was back in my element. I absorbed the knowledge from the wall, and the word _feim _popped into my head.

"That's odd," I said mostly to myself. "I had a sense what the others were for, but this one…" The thought that popped into my head was too nebulous to focus on. I shrugged and called up my last dragon soul to use on my new shout.

"_Feim!_" I shouted, and everything around me seemed to waver. My body became ethereal, and suddenly I couldn't quite feel the faint wind blowing through the cavern, or even the chill in the air. I turned to face my companions. "Look at me! Isn't this neat?!"

They looked at each other warily. Alea approached me slowly and swung her hand at my stomach. It passed through and I barely felt anything. "That won't do you much good if you need to kill something," she grumbled. She seemed to like being negative.

"It'll be great if I have to flee, though," I said brightly. "Or avoid traps."

I took off my knapsack and set it on the floor, then tried to pick it back up, but my hands went right through it. "Looks like I can only interact with objects if I was in contact with them before I used the Shout," I muttered to myself. Before I could do any further experimenting, I felt my body wavering, and a few seconds later, the Shout's effects wore off and I had a physical form again.

Feeling more optimistic than I had been since before meeting Aventus Aretino, I handed Alea the fireball staff, gave them each a third of the coins and resumed leading the way as we crossed the cavern and entered another tunnel.

A short way into the tunnel, it widened slightly. Most of the floor had been covered with pressure plates. I cautiously leaned forward and depressed one with my sword, and jets of fire shot up from the floor around the edges of the plate.

"There's usually a switch somewhere to disarm these kind of traps," Fultheim said, feeling the wall futilely.

"It's probably in the next room," I said. The tunnel curved up ahead so we couldn't see where it led. "Time to see how my new Shout does against fire."

"Look at how the walls slope on the sides," Fultheim said. "If we were really careful, we could probably cross by walking on that, if you can't find the switch. Or you could take refuge there if your power wears off too soon."

"Thanks," I said. I used my new Shout and sprinted across the pressure plates. I could almost feel the flame jets, but there was no pain or sense of heat.

I rounded the corner and let out a squeak of horror. The pressure plates ended up ahead, but the cave floor that represented safety was covered in a thick layer of spider web, as were the walls and ceiling. The biggest frostbite spider I had ever seen was descending from the ceiling.

"Ra'wati!" Fultheim and Alea called, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine, it's just a really, _really _big spider," I called back, my voice quavering slightly. "I can handle it."

I drew my sword and hopped onto the web-covered floor just as I felt my form wavering again. I tried swinging at the spider while I was still ethereal, but as I suspected, it passed through the spider harmlessly.

Once it wore off again, I went for the spider's head. Its body was surprisingly hard, and my sword did little damage. The spider spewed venom on me and the world seemed to haze over. I stumbled and swung at the spider again, but my aim was too far off.

The spider lunged forward and clamped its mandibles around my waist. I put the tip of my sword against its head and leaned fully against the sword, finally managing to break through its exoskeleton. The spider released me and stumbled back a few steps before collapsing. It seemed to twitch for a moment, but my vision had gotten fuzzy enough that I wasn't sure.

"Ra'wati?" I heard Fultheim call again. It was hard to focus, but he sounded concerned.

"I won," I called weakly. "I killed it."

I lurched over to the dead spider and rolled it onto the pressure plates, just to be sure. I fell to my knees, too dizzy to remain standing. I turned away from the burning spider and crawled on my hands and knees through the spider web, involuntarily hissing in displeasure the whole time. When I reached the far wall, I feebly patted the walls around the door until I found a ring on a chain set into the wall. I pulled it and heard the jets under the spider go silent. "Come on, it should be safe now," I called as I slumped with my back against the wall.

I dimly heard them come running up to me, and some sort of commotion as they both searched through their packs. Then Alea was bracing my head and holding a potion bottle to my lips. "Drink this," she ordered sternly.

I obeyed, and a few seconds later, my vision began to clear. "Thanks," I said weakly. "I didn't expect it to hit me that hard…"

"You must be weak against poison," Fultheim suggested. "Sounded like you might be afraid of spiders, too…?"

"Yeah, that I'll admit to," I grumbled.

"If you're naturally weak against poison, you should start carrying Posion Resistance potions for when you might encounter spiders," Alea grumbled, handing me one such potion to add to my pack. "Do you know how to make them?"

"Er, no, my parents wouldn't let me near their alchemy equipment." I rubbed self-consciously at my dead eye. "They seemed to think having one useless eye would make me blow the camp up."

"Maybe I can show you how to make a few potions before we part ways," Alea said grudgingly.

They gave me a little longer to recover, then I got to my feet and led the way down the final tunnel to our destination. One final room stretched before us, with a central pathway flanked by a pool of water on either side. Three large pillar-like statues lined either side of the path. They rose out of the water as I approached. We stopped and formed a ring, scanning the room for any enemies, but nothing else moved once the pillars finished rising. I had no idea why they did that, but I continued cautiously forward.

The path led to an ornate coffin resting on a waist-high platform. Amidst the other decorations on the top of the coffin, a carved stone hand seemed to reach out of the top, palm up. This was clearly where the horn was supposed to rest.

Instead, the hand was now holding a sheet of paper.

With an overwhelming sense of frustration and a little despair, I picked the paper up and read what was written on it.

_Dragonborn -_

_I need to speak to you. Urgently._

_Rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant inn in Riverwood, and I'll meet you._

_\- A friend_

I stared at the note so long that Alea and Fultheim came up on either side to read it over my shoulders.

I finally lowered the note, sighed heavily, and said through clenched teeth, "You two want to come to Riverwood to help me kill someone?"

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Scared" by Three Days Grace, "In the End" by Linkin Park

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Sorry this took so long to post. I wrote this chapter once, forgetting how little actually happens in Ustengrav, and it just came out so boring. I tried writing a different chapter where they went to Whiterun and just recapped what happened in Ustengrav to Lydia, but I was really unhappy with that too. I spent a week debating what to do, finally decided to post the second version of the chapter and move on, went to turn on the computer, and discovered the motherboard had failed. Woo-hoo, just what I needed. All told, 9,000 words wasted. Moving to my other computer was more stressful than I expected, and I don't write well when I'm frustrated.

I still don't like the chapter, but whatever. I've beaten my head against this particular wall long enough.

Also, I really do seem to have a skeleton-phobia when I play video games. It's weird and illogical and immersion only seems to make me shaky and paranoid and jumpy. And I'm sufficiently arachnophobic that I had to make the spider fight really short because trying to visualize and choreograph it in my head was giving me the pre-panic-attack shakes.


	14. Night Vision

**XIV: Night Vision**

Back outside, the light through the mist had dimmed slightly. Fultheim decided there was enough light left in the day for us to make it to Morthal. None of us really wanted to sleep inside Ustengrav, even if it seemed to be cleared out now, so we let him lead the way.

We reached our destination as the sun was setting. I was expecting another walled city like Whiterun, but Morthal was a run-down collection of rickety wooden houses built on the banks of a small lakethan ran through the middle of town. A stone bridge was built across the river leading away from the lake.

We heard a commotion coming from the far side of town. Numerous people were standing in front of a three-story building, facing off against a man who seemed to be preventing them from entering. We didn't get a chance to hear what they were arguing about, as the crowd turned and stomped away angrily before we got within earshot.

Deciding it was none of our business, we headed to Morthal's inn, the Moorside. We were greeted by a Redguard woman standing behind the counter.

"You lot adventurers?" she asked, looking us up and down.

"Yeah," I said, "we're looking for somewhere to spend the night. I just found out I'm really weak against poison, so we can't stay out in the swamp with all those spiders. Do you have an empty room we could rent?"

"Of course. We didn't get much traffic through here before the war started. Now hardly anyone passes though."

"Is there some sort of unrest in town?" Fultheim asked as I was fishing coins out to pay for the room. "Looked like a group of people were arguing with someone in front of the jarl's hall."

The Redguard sighed. "Yeah, we're having some trouble. You may have noticed that burned-out house on your way here. That belonged to Hroggar and his family. The place burned down last week. His wife and daughter died in the blaze. Hroggar survived, and the very next day, he moved in with Alva…"

_ "WHAT?!"_ Alea snarled.

The Redguard winced at her volume. "That's what everyone in town thought too, but we couldn't prove anything. The jarl said to leave it alone, but it just didn't seem right. So Thonnir went to the house to see if he could find anything to incriminate Hroggar. Thonnir's wife Laelette was last seen with Alva, though Alva insisted she left to join the Stormcloaks. Two nights ago, Thonnir was digging around the burned-out house and discovered the ghost of Hroggar's daughter Helgi. From talking to the ghost, Thonnir learned that Laelette was a vampire and had been the one to burn down the house. She showed up and Thonnir had to kill her in self-defense. They went to Alva's house and found out she was a vampire too and had turned Hroggar into her servant."

"So what are the townspeople unhappy about?" I asked.

"Well, they killed Alva and Hroggar, but they found letters in Alva's possession suggesting there's a mob of vampires holed up in a cave nearby, ready to take over Morthal. Everyone wants to take them out now, before the vampires make the first move, but Jarl Idgrod thinks we should wait until we're sent reinforcements."

"When are the reinforcements supposed to get here?" I asked.

She shrugged. "The jarl sent messengers to Solitude yesterday. We don't even know if they're going to help us yet. Everyone's getting scared. We hear odd noises out in the marsh at night. The jarl's men insist it's just frostbite spiders, but it doesn't sound like spiders."

"I hope you hear from Solitude tomorrow," I said. I handed her some coins and we followed her to our room.

The room only had one bed, so the innkeeper brought us two deer hides to spread on the floor. Fultheim and I each picked one up right away. Alea frowned at us suspiciously, not sure how to interpret us both assuming she needed the bed.

"Hey, you're probably the only one of us used to sleeping in a bed regularly," I said as I shook my deer hide out and spread it on the floor.

She growled softly. "Whatever. Any idea what we're doing tomorrow?"

"I have to get back to Riften and join back up with Lokir before I meet this stranger in Riverwood," I said. "But first, I need to stop by Whiterun. I need to see how the two orphan girls I took in are doing."

"Did you leave them by themselves?" she growled.

"No, my housecarl is watching them," I said. I quickly explained about Breezehome and how I had taken the girls in. "I could use Lydia's help now, but I don't want to leave the girls alone again."

"I can go with you to Whiterun," she said. "My house is in that direction."

"What about you?" I asked Fultheim. "You going to Solitude to find a new contract?"

He looked at me, seeming nervous for reasons I couldn't figure out. "Er, well, I could… Or I could come to Whiterun with you… Maybe someone there needs a shipment guarded from thieves…"

I nodded. "Then I guess we can all take the cart tomorrow morning. Right now, I think I'm going to take a bath before it gets too dark…"

"What if you're attacked by another spider?" Alea asked.

"Well… I still have that other Cure Poison potion you gave me…"

She shook her head. "Why don't we go see if they have an alchemy lab in town? I know a few potion recipes you could use."

* * *

Morthal only had one shop, an alchemy shop in the middle of town called the Thaumaturgist's Hut. As Alea had hoped, it contained an alchemy lab. The owner of the shop was happy to have customers, so she let us stay after she would have closed up shop for the day. Alea taught me how to make Restore health, Restore Magicka, Restore Stamina, Cure Poison and Poison Resistance potions. Under her guidance, I didn't blow anything up, making me feel a little annoyed at my parents' lack of confidence in me. There was nothing about making potions that having only one functioning eye would interfere with, as far as I could tell.

Once we had used up all our ingredients, Alea let me head off to bathe in a secluded spot by the river, far away from the torches and wall sconces that lit the streets. I would have liked to stay under the stone bridge across the river on the edge of town, but there were houses on either end of the bridge. I walked a short way along the riverbank instead, out of sight of the houses but not too close to the spiders. Just to be safe, I left a Cure Poison and Poison Resistance potion sitting beside the new set of clothes the alchemy shop's owner had sold me.

After I had soaked long enough, I climbed out onto the bank to dry. Having fur meant this took a while, so I had a long time to think.

My thoughts kept returning to the Dark Brotherhood, the assassin and Vasha. Had he been telling the truth? What if he had just been bluffing? I had taken "defiler of daughters" to mean he might have been a rapist, but what if he just meant he was promiscuous and didn't really respect his partners? What if Fultheim was the real criminal? Could I have beaten that assassin and spared them all? How long would they wait for me to visit their hideout before they came after me, or the girls?

I was so caught up with the turmoil inside my head that I barely noticed motion far off in the marsh. My mind dismissed it as wind blowing the marsh grass at first, then I thought it might be a small frostbite spider. I tentatively reached for a Resist Poison potion and my underclothes as I turned my full attention to the area where I thought I had seen movement.

I noticed movement again, and this time I saw a dozen human forms approaching though the marsh. They were sneaking.

I froze and watched them, considering. Were they travelers trying to avoid the notice of the swamp's frostbite spiders? Or bandits? Should I try to sneak back into town and alert the guards? No, I couldn't do that while I was naked…

Cursing my prohibitive modesty, I began pulling on my underclothes as stealthily as I could, keeping an eye on the approaching strangers. They were still a good distance away, far enough that I couldn't make out anything but human shapes moving through the mist.

I had just gotten my underclothes on and was about to pull on my pants when one of them seemed to notice me. He motioned to the others, and they all stopped and seemed to confer. With a sense of dread, I grabbed my clothes off the bank and tugged them on. I was about to make a dash for the city when they turned back to me. They all stood up and gave me friendly waves, then started approaching me casually.

I slowly picked up my cuirass without taking my eye off them, wishing I had just forgotten about the chafing and put the armor on first. My fur would have absorbed some of it…

My thoughts were interrupted rather abruptly when the nearest man raised his hands in my direction. I instantly realized he was about to cast a spell, but before I could react, streaks of red light seemed to project from his hands. When they struck me, I could feel my strength draining.

"_Vampires!" _I screamed as I tried to jump out of the way, lost my footing and fell over. I had never seen Vampiric Drain used before, but I had read about it, and it certainly felt like they were sucking out my life force. Flashing lights were starting to billow around the edge of my vision, but I refused to give in. If I passed out now, I was dead. I started to crawl back to my pile of gear.

Another vampire jumped on my back and grabbed my wrists. I fought desperately, and his neck-bite landed on my shoulder instead. I flailed and kicked, but he held on, tearing at my shoulder like an angry dog.

"_Feim!_" I shouted in desperation. The vampire's grip and the pressure of his teeth suddenly disappeared. He snarled in surprise and confusion. I darted out from under him. I swiped at me, but it felt like little more than the breeze against my back.

I started to head back for my sword, then reminded myself I couldn't touch it right now. I cursed as I realized I had two options. I could lead the vampires into Morthal and let the guards deal with them while I watched, or I could lead them out into the marsh, turn into a werewolf and hope I was a match for them.

I circled the confused vampires slowly, letting the others catch the scent of my blood. Once I was sure they were all focused on me hungrily, I turned and bolted out into the marsh. As I had hoped, three of them came after me.

As I ran, I put my left hand on my mauled shoulder. I realized I hadn't thought to see if I could use magic while this particular Shout was running. I decided to risk it, since I wouldn't be able to fight so well with my right shoulder torn up.

As soon as I called up Healing Hands, I felt my body become solid once more. I snarled in frustration as I kept running, holding the healing spell on my shoulder as long as I could. It only took a few seconds for the wounds to close up, but by that time, the nearest vampire was almost close enough to touch me.

I dropped flat to the ground. The nearest vampire had no time to reach and tripped over me. I paid him little attention, as I had turned my full attention to the transformation.

The vampires attacked me as my body began to change, but now I was strong enough to throw them off. I stumbled to my feet as the transformation finished and lunged for the first vampire I focused on. I got my jaws clamped onto his neck and shoulder and started shaking him, just as one of the others had done to my shoulder. He clawed at my body for a few seconds, then I felt him dissolving in my mouth, and he went limp and turned into a pile of ash.

I started reflexively wiping at the ash in my mouth in disgust, but another vampire took the opportunity to attack me from behind. He dug his teeth into my back, but I shook him off and whirled to face him. I brought one of my fists down onto his head. He stumbled back, stunned, and before he could recover, I slashed him deeply across the torso. He fell over and dissolved into ash. I whirled and caught the last one across the chest as he leaped for me, sending him flying through the air, already leaving a trail of ash behind him.

With my opponents dead, I checked my wounds. My fur had provided some protection when the vampire had jumped on my back, so none of my wounds were serious. Just as well, since it looked like the vampires had dissolved completely upon death, leaving no hearts to consume.

I started rummaging through one of the ash piles, but my attention was drawn to Morthal, where I heard screaming. It looked like a fight had broken out on the stone bridge into town.

There was no time to worry what the villagers would think of a werewolf showing up. I bounded through the marsh and onto the stone bridge, where I saw Fultheim and one of the guards fighting a trio of vampires. The guard had been driven to the ground, where one of the vampires was tearing at his leather armor, trying to reach his neck. Beyond him, Fultheim was holding his own against two more vampires.

Still running, I leaped at the vampire attacking the fallen guard, I tore him off the guard as I flew past. We rolled around on the bridge for a few seconds, but he was no match for me, and soon I climbed to my feet covered in a new layer of dust.

One of Fultheim's opponents came at me. I pounced on him, carrying him off the side of the bridge and into the water. After a brief scuffle, his body dissolved in the water, leaving an empty pile of armor behind.

I hooked my claws into one of the bridge supports and climbed back up. Fultheim was backing the last vampire in my direction. Once it got close enough, I lunged forward, clamped my jaws down on the vampire's head and jerked my head back as hard as I could. Next thing I knew, I had a huge mouthful of vampire dust where the vampire's head had been.

_ Note to self: Stop killing vampires with your mouth, _I thought self-deprecatingly as I inhaled some of the dust and started coughing and wheezing. I dropped back into the water to rinse the dust off my face and out of my eyes and mouth, then lurched up onto the bank, still coughing.

Fultheim approached me cautiously, still brandishing his battleaxe. I sat on the ground and turned the left side of my face in his direction with my head cocked to the side, hoping he'd notice my white pupil in the dim light from the nearby torches.

Thankfully, he did. "Ra'wati?" he asked, starting to lower his battleaxe.

I nodded, then gestured at the fallen guard, who was still lying on the ground, moaning.

"Thank the Nine. I heard you screaming…" Fultheim said. He knelt beside the guard. "I take it werewolves can't use magic,"

I shook my head.

He began healing the guard while I kept watch for anymore vampires. The marsh seemed quiet for now, but I still felt uneasy. There was no telling how many vampires lived in the nearby cave the innkeeper had mentioned. I know I had seen more than six before they attacked me.

While I didn't hear vampires, I did hear a few of the townspeople hurriedly putting on armor inside their homes. The door to a nearby house opened and a man wearing armor darted out. "Werewolf!" he shouted.

"No, she's on our side!" Fultheim shouted back. I gave the newcomer what I hoped was a friendly wave before turning back to scan the dark marsh. I continued surveying the darkness as more armed people emerged from their houses.

Everything seemed to be calm right now. I could see the spot across the river up ahead where I had left my weapons and armor. I was debating going to get it when a noise from the other side of town caught my attention. I turned and saw vampires on the roof on the other side of town. They seemed to be carrying something, but it didn't look like a weapon.

I bolted in that direction, doing my best to gesture at the people I passed to alert them of the danger. A couple of them just emerging from their homes swung at me with their weapons, but I dodged and kept running. I bunched my muscles and leaped up in the air, landing halfway on one of the roofs. I clawed my way up, ignoring the damage this did to the thatch, and lunged at the pair of vampires on the roof. I caught one of them a glancing blow across the chest, sending her toppling off the roof. I tackled the other one, and we rolled off the roof together, biting and clawing at each other.

In a matter of seconds, I had ripped him apart. I paused to check on the other vampire, but the townspeople had caught up with her. The item she had been carrying lay on the ground nearby, splintered, but I could tell now that it had been a bucket.

_ Why would they need buckets? _I wondered, then it hit me. The torches. They were going to douse the torches.

I frantically scanned the rooftops. A dozen more vampires were lurking up there, carrying buckets. Before I could figure out how to warn everyone, they started tossing water down onto the torches and wall sconces.

Most of the town was now dark, and Nords weren't known for their night vision.

The vampires started jumping off the roofs, and the townspeople started panicking, unable to see then in the sudden dark. I had no trouble in the dark, so I was able to survey the battle and determine where I was needed most. I went for the nearest vampire, then started picking off the ones that seemed to be getting the upper hand.

I felt Vampiric Drain hitting me from behind. I turned and saw a vampire casting it on me from the nearest rooftop. I lunged at the house, catching the edge of the roof and clumsily clawing my way up. The vampire backed off but kept his spell on me.

Mages never seemed to plan on what would happen if the opponent charged through the spell and attacked them head-on. This one had the presence of mind to fall flat to the rooftop as I pounced on him, so I missed my target. I scrabbled at the thatched roof to keep from rolling off the edge and turned to face the vampire. My next pounce hit him straight-on, but he fought viciously, and we rolled around on the roof briefly, making a ruin of the thatch. I kept kicking at him with my heavily-clawed feet until I tore his belly open, and he soon dissolved, leaving me bloody and close to wheezing.

I crouched at the edge of the roof, looking for more vampires. One came rushing by the house, and I pounced on him from the roof. The impact was enough to finish him. I crouched over the latest ash pile, panting, wishing I had a heart to consume. I couldn't keep this up much longer, even if I wasn't about to turn back into a Khajiit at any moment.

Fultheim ran up to my side. "Do you need healing?" he asked.

I nodded and let out a weary sigh. I looked at the mass of roof thatching my last fight had strewn all around the ground. It looked soft. I wanted to lie down, but I kept my head up, watching for approaching vampires. We had killed at least half of them now, and the rest had retreated, preparing for a second assault. The villagers were gathered in the center of town, staring uneasily out into the darkness.

I looked back down at the loose thatch, then up at the villagers, nearly helpless in the dark. I dropped to the ground and started scraping the thatch into a pile. I pushed the pile out into the open and turned back to Fultheim. I gestured at it, wishing I could talk.

He got my idea and held his hands out, casting Flames on the pile. While it wasn't as dry as I would have liked, it soon caught fire.

The villagers saw what we were up to and some of them came over to gather more loose thatch. I clambered back up onto the roof and started tearing out more and throwing it down to the ground for them to use. I stopped to rest a moment and watched them lining the path through town with piles of thatching and setting them on fire.

A rustling behind me drew my attention. A vampire had climbed up on the roof without me noticing and was rushing at me. Before I could react, it was struck with an exploding fireball and sent flying off the other side of the roof.

I looked where the fireball had come from and saw Alea standing with her back against one of the far houses, holding the staff I had given her in Ustengrav. I looked down at her thoughtfully, then hopped to the ground and loped over to her.

She pointed the staff at me as I approached. "Stay back. You smell like a wet dog."

I puffed out my cheeks and blew out my breath in exasperation. Where were her priorities? I pointed at her, then at the jarl's three-story hall, the tallest building in Morthal.

She looked at it, then back at me. "What? Are there vampires up there?"

I shook my head, then sighed in resignation. I had no idea how to explain this without words. I grabbed her and threw her over one shoulder before she could protest, then bounded toward the jarl's hall. I leaped, caught the first overhanging roof, pulled us up, then repeated it twice more.

I set Alea down on top of the sloped roof and turned to scan the distant marsh. Sure enough, I could see a few vampires lurking out in the dark.

I turned to Alea and started to point out at the distant vampires, but she cracked me across the head with her staff.

I yelped and grabbed the end of her staff, then deliberately pointed it at a spot past the outskirts of town.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snarled, trying to tug the staff out of my hand.

I let it go, mimed shooting a bow and arrow, then pointed back at the spot I had been aiming the staff at.

"What? I don't see any vampires… Oh. You can see in the dark, right?"

I nodded excitedly, took the end of the staff and aimed it for her again.

She got the message and shot a fireball where I indicated. It hit a clump of brush where a vampire was hiding, setting him on fire. Others broke cover, and I quickly pointed the staff at them. If the fireballs didn't kill them outright, they marked the vampires for the rest of the townspeople to find in the dark.

Soon I could find no more enemies hiding in the darkness. There might still be a couple hiding behind the houses, but the real danger was over. Now I could relax and see about getting the rest of my wounds healed.

Alea lowered her staff. "Looks like that might be all of them. I only have a couple more charges on this, anyway."

I slung her up onto my back and carefully climbed down the roof. I set her down and wearily headed back to the middle of town. The immediate danger was over, as far as I could tell. Now maybe I could take a short nap…

Movement in one of the windows of the Thaumaturgist's Hut caught my eye. _Probably a villager who didn't know how to fight, _I thought, starting to turn away, when I heard someone inside start screaming. Forgetting my weariness, I charged and took the door down with one blow. Inside, I saw a vampire break away from a screaming woman and bolt up the stairs. I charged after him. I was right behind him as he smashed out one of the second-story windows and jumped outside onto the second-floor landing. He climbed onto the rail and hoisted himself up onto the sloping roof. I followed, and he never had a chance to turn to face me before I fell on him and tore him to pieces.

With my last opponent dead, I started to feel incredibly weary. I sat down on the sloping roof as my limbs started shaking. I really needed a nap. I couldn't see myself facing one more vampire, as tired and shaky as I suddenly felt…

Then it hit me what was happening.

My limbs suddenly started to tremble violently and my enhanced strength began fading. I lost my grip on the roof and slid down, falling into the pond below.

I was fully Khajiit again when I surfaced, half-stunned from the impact with the water. I was mortified when I saw a mob running in my direction. I desperately felt around in the water for my clothes and pulled them on as quickly as I could.

I was too sore, tired and dazed to put up a fight, so I swam over to the bank and let them pull me out. Fultheim shoved his way to the front of the mob. He hovered around me protectively, but none of the villagers seemed to want to hurt me. They helped me over to one of the burning thatch piles to warm up.

An older Nord woman walked up to us. She ordered most of them to find something to use as torches and start patrolling, then turned to me. "So you're the visiting werewolf?" she asked. I assumed this must be Jarl Idgrod.

I gritted my teeth. "I don't know if there are any laws against it, but I was in complete control…"

"And Morthal might have fallen without you here," she interrupted.

I stared at her blankly. "Really?" I asked numbly.

"My people say you killed half of the vampires on your own. Looks like you were the only one who could see them after they put the torches out."

"Yeah, my people are more than just thieves and traders," I muttered.

She nodded. "I think you've earned a place as thane of Morthal for your work tonight. We have no spare house for you to live in, but there's a plot of land I could give you to thank you for saving my people."

"Free land?" I said dumbly. I had saved the village? Killed half the vampires? They were making me a thane here too? And giving me land for free?

"The ceremony will have to wait until tomorrow. We can't let our guard down yet. We still have to make sure there are no vampires hiding in the shadows or the other houses, and…" she suddenly trailed off, looking at me strangely.

I looked around. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing…"

"You have your clothes on backwards," one of the men behind her said.

I froze. Very slowly, I looked down at myself. I let out a heavy sigh and squeezed my eyes shut. If I didn't look at it, maybe it wouldn't be true. "I need to go lie down," I said softly as I squeezed through the crown with my head down and my shoulders hunched and practically ran back to the inn to fix my clothes.

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Nobody Gets Off In This Town" by Garth Brooks, "Scared" by Three Days Grace, "The Howling" by Within Temptation, "Night of the Hunter" by Thirty Seconds to Mars, "Leader of the Broken Hearts" and "Warriors" by Papa Roach, "Mad Season" by Matchbox 20

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I've cleared out most of the caves in Skyrim, and none of them gave me as much trouble as Movarth's Lair. It holds the record for how many times I lost and had to reload. I really didn't want to go through it again right now, so that's why I had the vampires come out to fight.

One thing I absolutely hate about Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters is how the authors love to have all the other characters speechless in awe over how awesome they are. Barf. I'm determined to keep Ra'wati grounded. Thus the "clothes-on-backwards" thing when anyone else would have had the townspeople gushing over how cool she was.


	15. Catching Up

**XV: Catching Up**

The sun was setting as the cart came to a stop near the Whiterun stables. I was half-sorry we had arrived. Another hour of sleep would have been nice.

"Mama!" I heard two voices call as I hopped out of the wagon. Lucia and Sofia came bounding up to me from down the hill, with Lydia following behind. I knelt down to hug both of the girls.

"So, how do you like your new home?" I asked Sofia.

"It's wonderful1" she exclaimed. "It's everything I could have hoped for! Thank you so much!"

"Where's Papa?" Lucia asked. "And who are they?" She looked at Fultheim and Alea suspiciously.

"Lokir and I had to split up," I said, giving Lydia a look that said we'd discuss the details later. "He's safe back in Riften. This is Alea Quintus and Fultheim the Fearless. Circumstances required us to travel together briefly." I stood and stretched my back.

"I could have come with you, if you'd asked me yesterday," Lydia said.

I shrugged. "I would have, but I was stuck around Morthal all of yesterday."

"Morthal?" Lydia asked. "Then why'd you leave your horse here last night?"

"My horse?" I looked over at the stables, where a familiar dark brown horse was contentedly away at a trough in one of the stalls. I slowly walked over to her and put my hands on her sides, hardly believing it was really her.

"That filthy _s'wit _knew I'd come back here first," I growled, then clapped my hands over my mouth and looked down at the girls. "Don't repeat that."

Lydia looked as confused as I felt. "What? Who?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Later."

* * *

After a brief stop to sell our loot at the various shops, we headed to the Bannered Mare. Breezehome wasn't really big enough for all of us to eat at the table, and I didn't feel like cooking.

Once we all had our food, I asked Lydia, "Anything noteworthy happen while I was gone?"

"Yeah," she said, looking down, "Skjor is dead."

"Skjor? What happened?" I asked.

"He went to scout out Gallows Rock on his own and the Silver Hand ambushed him."

I frowned. "Weren't they going to wait until Lokir and I returned to take that place on?"

"I guess Skjor got impatient." She shook her head sadly. "Once the Companions found out, they asked me to come along, and we cleaned the place out. They're looking for more Silver Hand hideouts, so they should have something else for you and Lokir to take care of." She looked at my companions. "So, care to tell me where you met these two?"

I frowned. "Well, now's not the best time…" I glanced at the little girls, then back at Lydia. "Let's just say we ran into some trouble and decided we needed to stick together. We wound up right outside of Ustengrav, so they offered to help me find the horn."

"Oh, so you can go back to the Greybeards now?"

I growled softly as I pulled the letter out of my pack. "Actually, I found this where the horn was supposed to be."

She read the note over and looked back at me. "This sounds like a trap."

"I know," I sighed, "but whoever left this has the horn. I have to investigate."

"It might not be," Fultheim said. "Why didn't they use your name?"

I shrugged. "Does that matter?"

"What if they really know something related to the Dragonborn? How did they know you'd be sent after the horn?"

I looked at him blankly. "Well… I hadn't thought of that…"

"They could have laid an ambush or a trap for you. I think they must know something about the Dragonborn, but not you specifically, or they would have sought you out directly."

I looked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe… But I'm still fetching Lokir before I go to Riverwood."

"Better safe than sorry," he said, nodding.

I resumed the story, telling them about the attack on Morthal as best I could without mentioning me being a werewolf. Lucia and Sofia enjoyed the story.

"After that, Jarl Idgrod made me thane of Morthal," I finished.

"Only you?" Lydia asked.

"She's the one who killed half the vampires," Fultheim said. "Without her, everyone would have been fighting blind in the dark."

"She also gave me a plot of land in northern Morthal," I continued. "And I have a new housecarl, Valdimar. He knew a bit about construction, so I asked him to stay behind for now and work on a new house."

"Ooh, are we going to move to the new house?" Lucia asked excitedly.

"Well… I don't know. I hadn't thought of it. But it's within sight of Solitude. If I had business there…"

"Are we going to have an oven, so we can bake sweet rolls?" Sophie asked.

"Sweet rolls," I said thoughtfully. I hadn't given this new house much thought, but I certainly could customize it. "Yes, we need an oven. And a storage room. And an alchemy lab… And a bathhouse!" I exclaimed.

"A bathhouse?" Fultheim asked blankly.

"Yes, a bathhouse. That's twice now I've almost died because I was ambushed while I was alone on the outskirts of town, not wearing armor. At least here in Whiterun, they have a nice sturdy bathhouse inside the barracks."

"They have a bathhouse here?" Fultheim asked. "I might want to stop by there before bedtime."

"Yeah, I can show you where it is," I said, frowning at the innkeeper, Hulda. She had walked over to the tavern's bard, Mikael, and was whispering something to him. A moment later, he strode to the middle of the room, carrying his lute, and announced, "This one's a favorite of mine. A legend we all know and love."

I turned my attention back to my food. I thought they were acting suspiciously. Guess I was just being paranoid. "Lucia, Sophie, I wish I could stay here, but I've got to leave for Riften in the morning. Alea is going to stay with you for now…"

"_Our hero, our hero, claims a warrior's heart, I tell you, I tell you, the Dragonborn comes," _Mikael sang.

I suddenly lost my thought. I looked over at him and noticed most of the other patrons of the Bannered Mare were looking at me. I quickly looked down at my plate, wondering if they could see me blushing under my fur.

The girls didn't pick up on my reaction to the song. They looked over at Alea. "Can you play tag?" Sophie asked.

"Of course," Alea said, smiling and speaking in a gentle tone I hadn't thought she was capable of.

"I'll expect you two to do what she says and not cause too much trouble while I'm gone." I turned to Alea. "And I trust you won't be too hard on them…"

"Don't worry about that," Alea said, sounding mildly offended. "I may not have much patience for adults, but I don't mistreat children."

"Okay. Just remember we're in this mess because someone was mistreating children."

I asked the girls what they had been up to and let them talk while I finished eating. I went back up to the counter to see if Hulda had any empty rooms to rent and cheese wheels for sale, then showed Fultheim the way to the bathhouse. Lydia followed me so we could make plans for tomorrow's trip without the girls overhearing.

"I take it you'll be leaving early tomorrow," Fultheim said as we stood at the entrance to the bathhouse. He seemed like something was bothering him.

"We'll be leaving right after the sun rises," I said. "I really want to join back up with Lokir as soon as possible, and you humans aren't good at traveling at night." I gave Lydia a withering glance, which she returned. I looked back at Fultheim. "You're free to take the cart to Solitude tomorrow. I don't need it. Or you could stay at the tavern and see if anyone needs any hired muscle."

"Ah, about that…" he said nervously. "I don't suppose you… er… well… need another follower?"

"You want to stay with me?" I asked cautiously.

"If… if you don't mind…" He took a deep breath. "I'm a mercenary. That's all I've ever been. I don't work for bandits, but… some of my employers have been… ruthless. Last one wanted us to attack a camp at night. I told him there was no honor in attacking sleeping men, but…"

"And you think I wouldn't ask that of you?"

"You let me live. You let me go. You came back to save Morthal from the vampires, knowing the townspeople were likely to attack you for being a werewolf. I wouldn't mind tying myself to someone with your sense of right and wrong."

I wanted to agree with him and leave it at that, but I just shook my head and said, "I used to think I had a definite sense of what was right and wrong, but I'm not so sure anymore. The line seems to become less clear each day. If I keep going, I know I'll find my line again, but I'm afraid of who I'll be by then."

"I think you're being too hard on yourself…"

"Do you enjoy killing?" I interrupted.

He looked startled. "Well… No, it's just a job…"

"I enjoyed killing the bandits who killed my parents," I said. "I thought that was just my desire for revenge. After that, I was on my own for two years, with nowhere to live. I had to hunt for my food. I got excited whenever I made a kill, but I thought that was just because making a kill meant I'd get to eat that night. Then the dragon attacked, and I found myself on a path where I had to start killing people, and I found it also excites me. In a few months, I might be a different person, one you don't want to follow."

"You said you could control yourself. That's good enough for me."

"Yes, I can right now. But part of me wants to ignore my inhibitions. There may come a day when I can't fight that part of myself anymore…" I shrugged. "You can stay with me for a little while. I'll pay you with a share of any loot we find. If I'm right and you come to find I'm really a monster, you're free to leave. You don't have to swear loyalty to me."

"Thank you. I won't let you down." He gave my arm a tentative squeeze. "And I still think you're being too hard on yourself. I think there's more good in you than you give yourself credit for."

* * *

We left around dawn the next morning. Since I was eager to get back to Riften, Lydia and Fultheim rode in the carriage, while I followed on my horse.

We arrived at Riften a few hours before dusk. I dropped my horse off at the stable, looked wistfully at the gray ones, then shrugged and turned away. If I combined the coins I had with me with the ones I had left behind, I might be able to afford one of them.

"Ra'wati!" I heard Lokir call from behind me. I spun around and saw him galloping toward me on his black horse. I ran to meet him, and he jumped off his horse and ran to meet me. We embraced, each trying to out-squeeze the other.

"By the Eight, where have you been?" Lokir demanded.

"I was drugged and kidnapped," I said. "We need to discuss this in private."

He nodded and started to loosen his grip around my ribs. I heard Lydia and Fultheim approaching. "Who's he?" Lokir asked curiously.

I pulled away. "This is Fultheim the Fearless. He's a mercenary. I can't really tell you how we met right now, but he asked if he could stay with me."

He looked Fultehim over, then looked back at me with a grin. "I knew you'd get lonely without me."

I started to protest, then noticed a woman in a long gray hooded robe walking over to us, leading Lokir's horse. She was watching him intently, almost protectively. I looked back at Lokir and poked him in the ribs. "Oh, I was the only one who got lonely?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "She's not following me, I'm following her at the moment. I'm glad you showed up again. We might need your help." He turned and waved for the woman to come join us. He lowered his voice and said, "This is very important and you need to hear her out, okay? This is Serana and she's… Well, she's a vampire."

**SOUNDTRACK: **"Of These Chains" by Red, "Nothing Left To Say" by Imagine Dragons, "Cain's Blood" by 4 Runner, "Good Man" by Devour the Day, "The Real You" by Three Days Grace

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **You may have noticed Ra'wati's repeated offhand references to buying cheese. This is all leading up to something, I promise.

Sorry about the short filler chapter. I hate this one too, but it was necessary.


	16. The Volkihar Clan

**XVI: The Volkihar Clan**

For a moment, I just stared at Lokir, speechless. "A vampire?" I finally repeated. "But your family…"

"Yes," he said, his voice still lowered, "vampires killed my family, and here I am helping one. That should tell you that there's something very important going on."

"Either that, or she's enthralled you," Fultheim said warily.

"No," I said slowly, "I don't think that would work. He's a werewolf too." I looked over at the vampire, then back at Lokir. "If you have somewhere quiet we can go, I'll hear you out."

"Let's go back to the inn. You left all your stuff there."

I nodded warily and waited for Lokir to lead the way. He and Serana obligingly headed back to Riften. The rest of us followed at a distance.

Back at the inn, I found all my gear just as I had left it. I thought about changing back into my elven armor, then decided to wait until I had heard the vampire out. I didn't want her catching me off guard while I was changing.

Lydia, Fultheim and I stayed at one end of the room. Serana calmly settled down in the chair. Lokir stood beside her and addressed us. "Right after you disappeared…" He trailed off, looking at me. "I still don't know how they managed that."

I thought back to the guard who had whispered in my ear right after I killed Grelod the Kind. "I have reason to believe at least one of the city guards is in league with the Dark Brotherhood, but we'll discuss that after you tell me why you're helping a vampire."

"Fair enough," he said. "The Thieves Guild didn't have anything else for me to do right now, so I went to Fort Dawnguard to see if they could use my help. Their leader, Isran, is looking for new recruits. He let me join and sent me out to help clear out a vampire cave. On the way back, we met up with another group Isran had sent to investigate a place called Dimhollow Crypt. They had noticed a lot of vampires taking an interest in the place. Serana was traveling with them."

I looked at her curiously. "How did you convince vampire hunters to let you travel with you?"

"I've been… sleeping in Dimhollow Crypt for a long time," she said. "Centuries at least. I'm not sure. The Dawnguard knew the vampires were trying to solve a puzzle to open a secret chamber in Dimhollow Crypt. When the Dawnguard solved the puzzle and found me in the chamber, they were surprised enough to let me explain myself. It might have helped that I didn't try to attack them." She swung her knapsack off her back, reached in and pulled out a large oblong object. "Do you know what this is?"

At first, I thought it was a sword in an ornate sheath, but then I recognized it. I had never seen one – few had – but I had heard stories. "That's an Elder Scroll, isn't it?"

She nodded. "I was sealed away in Dimhollow Crypt to keep this out of my father's hands. I need to take it somewhere he won't be able to find it. I know a place, but I need your help reaching it."

I was only half-listening, still fixated on the Elder Scroll. They were said to be remnants of the creation of the world. They said inside the scrolls was written everything that had ever happened, but most who tried to read them went blind. I fought the urge to reach out and touch it, forcing my focus back on Serana. "Why is it so important to keep it away from him? Won't he go blind if he tries to read it?"

"It's not that simple," she said unhappily. She looked around the room, as if weighing her options. "Look, I really don't know all the details…"

"Just tell me what you do know. I'm not following you blindly."

"The vampires recorded a prophecy centuries ago called the Tyranny of the Sun. Under the right circumstances, it told a way to block out the sun forever, allowing vampires to hunt at will."

"Wouldn't that be to your benefit?" I asked cautiously.

She gave me a reproachful look. "Becoming a vampire doesn't make us evil, any more than becoming a werewolf would."

I looked down. "Sorry. I just had a bad experience with vampires a couple nights ago, and I'm not happy with them right now. A pack of them attacked a town we were staying in but didn't count on me being able to see them in the dark. It was a bloodbath."

"Or a dustbath," Fultheim offered.

"Don't remind me," I groaned. "I can still feel dust in my lungs. Anyway." I looked at the Elder Scroll. "So this prophecy, it's recorded there?"

"A third of it is. It's spread out over three Elder Scrolls. My father had collected all three, but before he could arrange for someone to read them, my mother stole two of them. She left this one with me and kept the other herself. In order to block out the sun, I know he needs all three Scrolls and either me or my mother. That's all I could figure out before my mother sealed me away."

"Why would he need you or your mother specifically? What's so special about you?"

"He needs a Daughter of Coldharbor, and as far as I know, we're the only ones in existence."

"Does that mean you got your power directly from Molag Bel?" Lokir asked, sounding faint.

She grimaced. "Yes, it was degrading, but I have no regrets. The power I received was worth it."

I suddenly felt queasy. I had heard the first vampire was created when Molag Bel raped a woman and infected her. I pushed that thought out of my mind. "So you're sure you know a place they won't be able to find you? Somewhere safer than staying with the Dawnguard?"

"I overheard some of my father's followers talking. They still don't know where my mother is, but I do. If I go to the Dawnguard, my father will know right where to find me."

I nodded. "So how did you get this Isran to let you leave?"

She raised the Elder Scroll. "Prophecy or not, this is a powerful item to possess. I told him my father just wanted it, but my mother kept it from him out of spite. I asked for an escort to help me deliver it to the College of Winterhold." She glanced at Lokir apologetically. "Your friend was deemed expendable."

"Okay," I said. It sounded logical. "So where do you need to go?"

She winced slightly. "Actually… I don't know exactly where my mother is, but I know she's hiding somewhere around the castle grounds."

"The castle? Your father's castle?" I asked incredulously.

"She helped the Dawnguard who found her fight off her father's people," Lokir added. "If she just wanted to run back to her father, she could have joined the vampires. "

I growled softly. "I suppose…" I glanced over at my followers.

Lydia shrugged. "Sounds plausible."

I started pacing across the small room, going over the details in my mind, and finally had to conclude it sounded plausible. "Okay, where is your father's castle?" I asked.

"It's on the north coast, near Solitude," she said.

I stopped pacing. "Solitude?" I asked through my teeth.

"Something wrong?" Lokir asked.

"You would have come through Whiterun on the way, wouldn't you?" I growled.

"Well, yes…"

"By the gods, I could have taken a break!" I moaned, leaning my back against the wall and slowly sliding to the floor.

"Maybe when we're through…" Lokir began.

"Yes, once this is over, we're taking a few days off," I said firmly. I leaned my head back against the wall. "When do you need to leave? Do you need to travel at night?"

"I can travel in daylight. It hurts and it's not great for my skin, but I can handle it," she said wryly.

"Great," I said wearily. All the running I'd done lately was starting to catch up with me, but I couldn't rest just yet. I thought of the two notes in my pack, one from the Dark Brotherhood, the other from a complete unknown. I kicked off my leather boots, climbed back to my feet and pulled off the rest of my armor. "Lokir, you want to walk me down to the stables so none of your new friends try to pick my pockets? I finally have enough for that gray horse." I put the armor in my knapsack and held it out to Lydia. "How about you go sell my extra gear for me?"

"Can't you…?" she began reproachfully.

"You and Fultheim can each have a third of it," I interrupted.

"Oh," she said, practically snatching it out of my hands. She glanced inside it. "What about all these cheese wheels?"

"Don't touch those," I snapped.

I pulled my old knapsack out from under the bed and donned my elven armor. Once I was suited up, we left Serana in the room and headed outside the city walls.

"So, do you think she's sincere?" Lokir asked once we were out of earshot of the guards.

I shrugged. "Sounds like it. I don't see any benefit if she's lying to us."

At the stable, they still had a dapple gray mare named Freyfaxi available, so I happily purchased her. I climbed up into Freyfaxi's saddle and set out down the path west of Riften on the pretense of seeing how she compared to my other horse. Lokir followed me on his black horse, and once we were far enough away from any eavesdroppers, we slowed our horses to a walk, settled in side-by-side, and I told him what had happened to me.

He was silent for a long time, then he finally said, "I hate it, but you'll have to go to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. If they have a guard on their side in Riften, they might have spies elsewhere. We can't risk them going after the girls. But they didn't give you a deadline?"

"No," I said. "We have to deal with Serana for now, then I want to sleep for three days straight, then we can deal with this unknown in Riverwood, then I'll go find the Sanctuary."

Lokir nodded. "I don't think it's a trap. There isn't room to hide much in Riverwood. I'm willing to bet they're on your side."

"Yeah, but one problem at a time. What are we going to do about Lydia's aversion to riding horses? I'm going to insist on Fultheim borrowing my black horse, but Lydia is going to slow us down."

"I guess I could buy another horse for her. I've certainly made enough from the Thieves Guild to afford one. But I don't really like gray horses."

I gave him a mortified look.

"Hey, that leaves more for you," he said, leaning over and slapping me on the arm playfully. "I heard they breed pintos in Markarth, but that's on the other side of the country…"

"We'll probably be sent there soon enough," I said.

* * *

As we rowed, I looked out over the water off the north coast. In the moonlight, through the thick mist, I could just barely make out a stone castle on an island. "I'm surprised the Nords haven't tried to clear that out yet," I muttered.

"Skyrim is covered with abandoned forts filled with bandits," Lokir observed, "and they don't seem too concerned about those either." He was staring out over the water, but I doubted he could see the castle. Humans had such poor vision at night.

"Still, it's close to Solitude…" I shrugged and turned away.

It had been a long journey to Solitude, longer than I expected. Serana said her father's castle was close to Solitude, but she meant that relatively. After spending all day riding in the cart to reach Solitude, we spent the night crossing the mountains west of Solitude. Now, near dawn, we had reached a small boat tied to an old wooden dock on the north coast. A short ride would take us to the vampire castle.

Fultheim and I had spent the day sleeping in the cart and were ready to keep going. Lydia and Lokir had gotten more rest while we were apart and hadn't felt the need for a nap until after dark, but we had chosen to keep going rather than stop for the night. Serana thought it would be best to try to sneak into the castle during the day, when her people would be less likely to be out patrolling. Once we reached our destination, I had suggested pitching camp, but they both agreed that they'd rather not sleep so close to a vampire den. They had elected to bring along plenty of stamina potions to keep them going until our mission was completed.

"So, do you have a plan?" I asked Serana.

"When I last saw my mother, she said she was heading back to the courtyard," Serana said thoughtfully. "I think she had some secret passageway hidden there. There's a rear entrance to the castle that leads to the courtyard."

"Assuming they haven't found her yet," Lokir observed.

She frowned. "Yes. If she's still hidden, then wherever she is would be a good hiding spot…"

"So you're just going to spend the rest of eternity hiding?" Lydia asked, sounding disapproving and vaguely scornful, as usual.

Serana gave her a withering look. "It's either hide or have my father declare war on whoever I ask to shield me." She looked back at the island through the mist. "Pull the boat in beside that boulder. The back gate should be nearby."

As we docked the boat and started to climb out, I thought I saw movement through the mist. I motioned for them to be still as I slowly climbed up the rocky slope onto the island and surveyed the area.

Everything seemed quiet. The walls of Castle Volkihir rose up high in front of me, but there seemed to just be empty ground between us.

Then I saw a shadow move. Two red eyes appeared in the middle of the shadow, and I realized it was one of the vampiric Death Hounds that often traveled with vampires. It had seen me and started baying as it charged.

Our cover was blown, so I leaped up onto level ground and drew my sword. I saw more hounds coming, and several vampires coming around the castle wall.

Suddenly Serana leaped in front of me, facing our opponents. "Stop!" she shouted.

To my surprise, the hounds skidded to a stop and the vampires obeyed her. "Lady Serana?" one of them called uncertainly.

"Yes, I've come back," she called. "This Khajiit is not to be harmed. I paid her to guard me on my way back to the castle."

The vampires looked at each other uncertainly.

Serana sighed in exasperation. "Does she look like a raiding party? She's just a mercenary who was looking for a job. I promised she would not be harmed if she helped me."

"Very well," the lead vampire said, motioning for the others to back away. "But your father will want to thank her."

Serana turned to me. "They're not going to attack you. Put your sword away."

"Are you sure I can trust them?" I hissed.

"Yes. My clan keeps our word." She cautiously approached the nearest Death Hound, reached out, and scratched it on the head. It started whining excitedly and wagging its tail.

I unhappily sheathed my sword and approached her. I swiveled my ears, trying to catch any sound made by my companions, but I heard nothing. _Good, _I thought. _Maybe the vampires won't find them._

The vampires and their dogs formed a ring around us and led us around the castle to the front gate. I kept a wary eye on them, but they made no move to attack us.

We walked through the front gate onto a landing overlooking the castle's dining hall. The vampire who had spoken with Serana walked to the edge of the landing and called, "Lord Harkon, Lady Serana has returned!"

Dozens of vampires looked up at us and started calling excitedly, most sounding genuinely happy to see Serana again. I barely noticed as I looked down on the tables the vampires were gathered around.

Humans were lying on the tables, moaning in pain as vampires fed on them.

Serana leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Please don't try anything heroic. Those humans live here. They weren't abducted."

"They… they want to be there?" I whispered weakly.

She looked away. "Some of them might."

I followed her down the stairs, forcing my revulsion down. Right now, there was nothing I could do about it. I could always come back later…

The vampire at the head of the central table arose and approached us. "Serana!" he called. "Do you still have my Elder Scroll?"

"You haven't see me in centuries, and that's the first thing you ask about?" she asked scornfully.

He sighed dramatically. "I thought you would need no reminding of your father's love."

I thought back to the last time I saw my father, how he had given his life to save me. I watched Serana's cold reunion with her father, unable to comprehend how he could care so little for her.

They spoke for a moment, discussing things that had happened around the castle while Serana was gone. Apparently her mother had not been seen since she ran away with Serana and the Elder Scrolls.

What if they had captured Serana's mother already? What if this vampire already had the other two scrolls and I had just delivered the last things he needed to blot out the sun? Suddenly I realized I had not thought this mission out very thoroughly…

My inner turmoil was interrupted by Serana's father approaching me. "And who might you be?" he asked, almost sounding cordial.

"I am Indoril Ra'wati, former trader turned mercenary," I said, keeping my voice level.

He laughed mockingly. "You don't talk like a Khajiit."

I started to growl before I could stop myself. "I talk the way my parents taught me to," I said levelly, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.

"Your parents must not have taught you much about vampires, if you were so quick to accept a contract from one."

"All the other vampires I have encountered tried to kill me on sight, so I killed them first. Serana never tried to attack me. She asked for my help." I straightened myself up, remembering what Lokir told me about appearing confident. "Besides, I am both a Khajiit and a werewolf. I know about people making assumptions about me before they get to know me."

"Fair enough, Khajiit," he said. "I only have one thing I can offer you in return for bringing my daughter safely home. I can make you one of us."

I looked at Serana warily. "Ah… I'm a werewolf…"

"Yes, that curse will protect you from the diluted, inferior strain of vampirism you're familiar with. Ours is the pure form handed down straight from Molag Bel." His form seemed to disappear in a black cloud briefly, then was replaced by a humanoid creature with gray skin and dragon wings, standing taller than an Altmer. "Have you ever seen a common vampire become this? This is our true form. This is what I offer you."

_Directly from Molag Bel? Does that mean he and Molag Bel…? _I quickly drove those thoughts from my mind. I motioned at the humans lying on the tables. "I'm sorry, but I will have to respectfully decline your offer. I could not comprehend having to treat another creature like that to survive." I looked up at him, feeling my ears lowering in submission on their own. "But you do look impressive," I added meekly.

"Very well," he said. "Serana promised you safety, so I will see that you are taken back to the mainland and released. If we meet again, you will be our prey."

"I expected as much," I muttered.

He turned back to Serana. "It would be most unfortunate if my Elder Scroll fell into the wrong hands. I am pleased you kept up with it so well, but I must insist you return it now." He held out his hand.

Serana froze, then very slowly removed the Elder Scroll from her back and handed it to him, looking defeated.

He tucked the Elder Scroll under his arm smugly and turned to the vampires behind us. "Take them to the dungeon."

"Father…!" Serana began.

"We are in the middle of a meal," he interrupted condescendingly. "We still have much to discuss, and your Khajiit will be escorted safely off the island. Until then, I can't have you two wandering off and getting lost."

We were too outnumbered to fight. We reluctantly let a group of four vampires escort us out of the dining hall. I paid attention to the path we took, in case we had to sneak back out later.

We were taken to the dungeon, where most of the cells were occupied by Nords. They looked to be in the same shape as the ones I had seen lying on the banquet tables.

"So, when you said those humans lived here…" I began, my voice a soft growl.

"Yes," Serana said, looking down. "This wasn't my idea…"

"Oh, it's not as bad as it looks," one of the vampires interrupted. "Some of them come willingly." He opened one of the occupied cells. "Like this one. You must be thirsty after all this time, Serana. I'm sure he won't mind."

They shoved her in the cell and locked the door. To her credit, she turned her back on the Nord curled up on the floor.

They led me over to another cell. I grudgingly let them take my sword and pack. If they meant to feed on me, they could have put me on the table in the banquet hall…

The lead vampire opened up my pack. "Lord Harkon said we would release you, but he never said anything about your possessions…"

"That's not being a very good host," I growled.

"Well, you pulled us away from dinner, so…" he trailed off, his expression shifting to confusion as he looked inside my pack. He shook it a few times, then looked up at me. "Why do you have so many cheese wheels in here?"

I turned my nose up at him. "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you."

He dropped my pack on the floor. He motioned to the other vampires, and next thing I knew, one had me by each wrist, pulling in opposite directions.

"Since you're making us late for dinner, how about you compensate us?" he asked, giving me a malicious smile. "We haven't had Khajiit in ages."

"No!" Serana shouted from the other side of the room. "I promised her nobody would harm her!"

"Oh, relax, Lady Serana," he said as he walked up to me. "It won't kill her."

I tried to back away, but the grip on my wrists was too strong. I sighed and steeled myself. "There are plenty of others here to feed on. If you try to feed on me, I'm going to interpret it as an attack."

"Go right ahead," he said mockingly. He put his hand behind my head, grabbed my hair and pulled my head back.

"_Wuld!_" I shouted.

For a split second, I felt like my arms were being pulled out of their sockets as I flew forward. The vampire who had been in front of me, preparing to bite my neck, served as a cushion as I collided with the far wall. The vampires gripping my wrists had no such cushion and struck the stone full force. We all bounced off the wall and skidded across the floor.

"Gods, how did you do that?" the last vampire gasped.

"The knowledge would do you no good," I wheezed as I dizzily pushed myself up on all fours. Supporting my weight on my pulled shoulders was agonizing, but I had no choice, with at least one vampire still ready to fight.

Beside me, the would-be neck-biter let out a final groan and dissolved into a dust pile. I glanced to either side at the two wrist-grabbers, in time to see one of them dissolve into a dust pile. The other was motionless. I looked back up at the last vampire, who was advancing on me, ready to fight.

I was unarmed, so the werewolf was my only option. The vampire leaped on me in mid-transformation. He bit and clawed at me, but my teeth and claws were much larger once my transformation was complete. He only lasted a few seconds.

Coughing and wheezing from the vampire dust, I tried to climb to my feet, but I was still too sore and dizzy from the impact with the wall. I looked over at the dead vampires and shuddered, glad I hadn't struck my head on the wall.

I frowned thoughtfully. _I bet I could knock down a wooden door with that Shout in an emergency… Maybe wrap myself in deer pelts first…_

"Ra'wati?" Serana called. "Are you in control?"

I turned to her and started to nod, but the motion made me dizzy and I fell over again.

"Can you bring the key over here?"

I crawled over to the neck-biter's ash pile. After a moment of digging and sneezing, I found the key. Trying to pick it up taught me that my fingers were no good for tasks requiring dexterity, so I picked it up in my teeth and carried it over to Serana.

"Everyone should be at the banquet," she said as she fiddled with the lock. "Your fight might not have been overheard. It's not far to the courtyard from here." She gave me an apologetic look. "I'm afraid I can't heal your wounds. My healing magic only works on the undead."

She opened her cell door and hurried out. She paused to pick up my pack and weapons. I hung back, looking at the Nord in the cell. He was just sitting on the floor, staring off into space.

Serana cautiously put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ra'wati, there's nothing we can do for them. They don't seem to have any free will or desire to escape."

I crawled to my feet and wobbled after her, vowing that I'd come back here one day and clean this place out.

Thankfully, we saw no more vampires as we made our way to the courtyard. I'm not sure I could have used my arms in another fight, as sore as my shoulders were.

She froze as she opened the door to the courtyard. In the center of the courtyard stood what looked like a huge sundial taller than I was, with a ring of symbols on the ground around it depicting moon phases. The walls were lined with many long-dead gardens. I didn't see anything moving inside.

"This place was so beautiful when I left," Serana said sadly. "Mother was a master gardener. But it looks like nobody else cared to tend the gardens…"

I closed the castle door behind us and warily followed her into the courtyard, scanning the area for any threats. A few seconds later, I heard Lokir call my name.

I glanced up to see him peering over the edge of a walkway above the door we had entered through, holding his bow ready. I motioned that it was safe, and he put the bow away and hurried down to the ground level, followed by Lydia and Fultheim.

"I see you found the Moondial," Serana called to them.

"Yeah, it looked significant, so we took a gamble that this is where you needed to go," Lokir said. He looked at the door we had come through. "Are you sure you aren't being followed?"

"Everyone should be at the banquet," Serana assured them. "My father sent a small group to escort us to the dungeon for the night, after which he had promised to release Ra'wati. But… well, they broke the rules of hospitality, so she broke their necks."

Lokir clapped me on the shoulder. "When this is over, you have to take me vampire-hunting sometime."

I nodded, then cocked my head to one side and gave him an inquisitive look.

"Oh, right. Well, right after the Death Hounds spotted you, Serana said to let her handle it. If they had attacked you, we would have come to your rescue, but she seemed to have everything under control, so we thought we'd secure the courtyard and wait for you. I guess they were so surprised to see her again that they didn't think to check the beach for more invaders."

I nodded, and clapped him on the shoulder to show there were no hard feelings. His knees almost buckled under my enhanced strength.

While we were talking, Serana had walked over to the Moondial and was looking at the ring of symbols on the ground around it. "Some of these are wrong," she muttered as she knelt down and started fiddling with one of the symbols. She turned it slightly and we heard a click come from the Moondial. She slowly walked around the Moondial and made small adjustments to the moon symbols, and after she turned the last one, the circle of blocks around the Moondial slowly dropped down to form a spiral staircase leading under the courtyard.

I motioned for the others to stay back and squeezed through the hole in the stone floor. I descended the steps slowly, scanning the room beyond for any threats, but all was quiet. It looked like an old library with a closed door on the far wall.

My limbs suddenly started to quiver. I lost my balance and rolled down the stairs as I changed back to a Khajiit, with all my weapons and armor clattering down the stairs with me.

"Ra'wati! Are you okay?" Lokir called as they all rushed down the stairs into the darkness.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I wheezed. "No sense trying to be quiet now, I guess." I located my clothes and started pulling them on.

"I think I've got a torch in here somewhere…" Lokir began.

"Wait until I'm dressed!" I snarled.

Once I had my clothes back on and Lokir had his torch lit, we found a lever than raised the stairs again, concealing our hiding place. Then Serana took an old key out of her pack and unlocked the door. The room beyond was clearly meant for alchemy. There were dozens of alchemy ingredients and potion bottles on shelves around the room, and an elaborate alchemy table on either side.

There was a series of rings set into the center of the floor, each one smaller than the one above, almost like a round set of stairs. A pedestal holding a silver offering bowl stood beside the circles.

Serana walked over to the alchemy table and picked up a dusty old book lying on the corner. She spent a moment reading while the rest of us investigated the shelves.

"My mother was doing research on the Soul Cairn right before we parted ways, and it looked like she succeeded," Serana said, sounding worried.

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds bad," Lokir said.

"I know," Serana agreed. "My mother believed the Soul Cairn is where souls go after they've been soul-trapped with Black Soul Gems."

I suddenly started feeling sick. "I thought all souls went back to the Nine or the Daedra."

"That's not what my mother thought," Serana said, setting the book down and walking over to the nearest shelf. "She believed the Soul Cairn was a region of Oblivion where mysterious entities called the Ideal Masters resided. She believed she could go there. Her last journal entry here says she found a way to open the portal and planned on hiding there." She picked up several bowls off the shelf and examined them closely. "Finely ground bone meal… soul gem shards… purified void salts… yes, everything we need to open the portal is right here."

"Did she say anything about what the realm was like?" Lokir asked.

"No, but it sounded like she had gone there and come back at least once."

"I'm not sure I'd feel right just sending you through a portal without being sure where you're going," Lokir said uncertainly.

Serana looked surprised. "I'd… never ask you to come with me, but if you wish, it shouldn't be a problem. If we find my mother, she may be able to tell you more about the prophecy."

Serana collected several bowls of alchemy ingredients off the shelves and took them over to the silver offering bowl beside the stone rings. After pouring the ingredients in the offering bowl, she bit one of her fingers and let a few drops of her blood fall on the ingredients.

The floor started to shake as the stone rings rotated. They formed a staircase descending into a new hole in the floor. Strange purple flames burst out of the floor briefly, then subsided, leaving the hole suffused with their purple glow as mist drifted out. It was hard to look directly at the light, but I could see a different realm through the haze and the portal.

"Are you sure it's safe?" I asked, shrinking away from the purple light.

"It's just another plane of Oblivion," Serana said with a shrug. "Plenty of mortals have journeyed to the Daedric realms and returned to tell their stories. This should be no different."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "I'm coming along. No," I interrupted as Lokir started to protest, "If you're putting yourself in danger, I'm coming with you. I guard your back, you guard my left side, right?"

"Right," he said, sounding relieved. "What about you two?" he called to Lydia and Fultheim, who were hanging back against a wall, staring wide-eyed at the portal.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd really rather not," Lydia said, pressing herself against the wall. "I'd rather not draw the attention of the Daedra or anything else from Oblivion if I can help it."

Fultheim just squeezed his eyes shut and looked down silently.

"I understand," Lokir said. "This isn't part of your sworn duties to your thanes."

"And it would be nice to have someone out here to make sure we don't run headlong into vampires on our return if any show up," I said. "It's not likely to happen, but if you two want to stay here and guard the portal on this side, we won't take it personally. If we're not back in… three days?" I glanced at Lokir and he nodded "you're free to head back to the mainland without us."

They both nodded silently. The portal really seemed to have spooked them.

I turned back to Lokir and Serana. "Ready when you two are."

I followed them as they walked down the steps and through the portal.

If I had known how the things I would learn in the Sould Cairn would affect my mind, my very worldview, I might have chosen to stay with Lydia and Fultheim.

**SOUNDTRACK: **"A Banquet for Traitors" by Oh, Sleeper, "In the End" by Linkin Park, "Waking the Demon" by Bullet For My Valentine, "Seize the Day" by Avenged Sevenfold

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Sorry for the long time between updates. I was having a hard time making Serana's case sound convincing, and I want there to be a reason why Ra'wati does the quests beyond just pursuing more quests. Plus I had come up with a more streamlined way for Ra'wati and Lokir to join up again, but I didn't want to significantly alter what I had already posted. I also thought hearing Serana out and journeying to Castle Volkihar should have been two separate chapters, but the first one would have been too short. These things made my muse unhappy, and when she's unhappy with what we're writing, my drive to work on it dries up. Then I went back for my final semester at college and it was grueling, leaving me no time to write. And then I went completely crazy over Steven Universe in January and I've been watching it instead of playing Skyrim all year. But this should be the last hump in the story for a while, and I'm really looking forward to writing about the Soul Cairn and Thalmor Embassy.

I altered the means by which they enter the Soul Cairn on the grounds that there's no way Ra'wati and Lokir would let Serana partially Soultrap them, even before finding out what the deal is with the Soul Cairn.

I forgot to mention in chapter 14's note that I decided to have vampires dissolve into ash piles like reanimated corpses to add variety to the fight scenes. I also thought collecting Vampire Dust from dead vampires would make more sense that way.

Eventually we'll have some vampire-vs-werewolf fights that don't end so quickly, but most of Ra'wati's opponents have been the unarmed type that run backwards while casting Vampiric Drain, which doesn't strike me as a good werewolf-fighting strategy.

Freyfaxi was the name of a horse from one of the Norse sagas. No significance, I just liked it.


End file.
